Penn State Featured in Major Wall Street Journal Investigation

... and they quoted me.

Screenshot from ‘Colleges Spending Like There’s No Tomorrow’, August 10, 2023 WSJ

Last week the Wall Street Journal released a major investigative article on university spending, Colleges Spend Like There’s No Tomorrow. ‘These Places Are Just Devouring Money’ .  This is a factual piece that casts a stark light on the runaway spending many flagship schools have undertaken, in many cases with a lack of trustee oversight, with Penn State prominently featured.  Journalists Melissa Korn, Andrea Fuller, and Jennifer S Forsyth did their homework. You can read an archived copy here, and a PDF version of the article, here.

FOXNews had their own take on the news, with the added perspective that student loan debt is the highest it has ever been.  Inside Higher Education also did a lengthy piece on the topic, Public Higher Education Is Becoming More and More Inequitable and the Wall Street Journal ran a follow up piece after receiving heavy interest in the original article.

Both the Wall Street Journal and FOXNews quoted my public objection at the July 2022 Penn State Board of Trustees meeting (read my full report here) to last year’s 5% tuition increase for in-state students after the Pennsylvania legislature failed to provide more funding:

“I think the knee-jerk reaction was, ‘OK, we’ve got to raise tuition,’ and I think perhaps the knee-jerk reaction should have been, ‘We need to get to work on the things we should’ve been doing for the last 10 years and light a bit of a fire underneath our behinds’ ” to address costs, [Fenchak] said.”

The Pennsylvania legislature is current deliberating funding for Penn State.  Pending the outcome of those deliberations, Penn State has delayed previously-announced staff and faculty salary raises (and raised tuition again).

University governance is a topic that frequently flies under the radar but is at the root of both success and failure in higher education. I am heartened to see this story get the coverage it deserves.

I am especially pleased that the researchers and journalists involved have taken such a deep dive.  It is an important issue throughout higher education, and especially at Penn State, and I appreciate the investment and time it takes to present thorough, fair, and factual information.  One can only hope that with increased external attention, those responsible for governance and administration in higher education will follow through with much needed improvements in fiscal and fiduciary responsibility.

I’ll leave you with this excellent quote from the Wall Street Journal follow up article:

"If you’ve got a board that never asks about financials and just wants to talk about winning the next game or when the cocktail party is, they are not going to get a lot done,” he (Marty Kotis, Trustee at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) said."

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As a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, I will from time to time be made aware of certain confidential information.  I will also engage with Trustees and administrators in private, off-the-record conversations, with the expectation of privacy on both parties. I take these expectations seriously, as they are required in order to catalyze important discussions.

As a fiduciary, it is also important that I engage in conversations with all stakeholders of the University. Stakeholders like you.  Discussions will involve publicly available information and issues before the Board, as well as my personal thoughts, concerns, and ideas. I also will continue to solicit your thoughts, concerns, and ideas, and plan to engage in meaningful conversations with you on those topics. I hope that you will continue to share your concerns and ideas with me.

You can contact me via my website, barryfenchak.com.