STATE COLLEGE (MCT) - Two candidates for Penn State board of trustees in the crowded field have dropped out of the race. It is well past time that we at least equal the efforts of our Big10 peers and commit to raising funds first, and THEN stick shovels into the dirt.. A "Town Hall" panel was held on April 8th, 2021, featuring the six candidates on the ballot for Penn State University Board of Trustee Alumni Elections. You do not seek power or popularity. The memo says that university officials who enforce the 2017 rules will focus on coaching Greek leaders. You simply ask, is a thing right, in itself? But Penn State's Board of Trustees didn't help the process, and even might have invited this latest round of speculation, by debating $48.3 million in football upgrades before approving the. She is a senior studying digital and print journalism with a minor in creative writing through Schreyer Honors College. Army Veteran, 20+ year Law Enforcement Investigator, Private Investigator, and Digital Forensics Examiner driven to uncover the truth and find answers for challenges of all shapes and sizes . Its a situation that describes how I feel about the Penn State Board of Trustees. The financial disclosures for the six meetings from September 2021 to July 2022 were among materials made available for the trustees Committee on Governance and Long-Range Planning meeting Sept. 22. Participate in upcoming trustee elections and learn more about the candidates. Because the alumni-elected members only constitute one-quarter of the voting members of the board it appears to me that the opinions of those alumni members could easily be ignored or minimized, regardless of the worth of those opinions. For example, 10 years ago a manager considering an investment in TESLA would certainly, if looking solely at their financial statements, not make such an investment (TESLAs financial positions at that time were awful, compared to its peers). The financial disclosures for the six meetings from September 2021 to July 2022 were among materials made available for the trustees Committee on Governance and Long-Range Planning meeting Sept. 22. Trustee spending peaked over the past decade during fiscal year 2015-16, when the board spent more than $415,000 on meetings, according to older financial reports. The median compensation for members of. Many trustees do, and it's certainly appropriate to be paid for the real work that comes with serving as a trustee. An inheritance, on the other hand, isn't taxable income. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Their payments in lieu of taxes are being funneled into a Hudson Yards fund over 35 years to fund bonds that paid for the $2 billion extension of the No. At the time, Penn State said Greek lifes self-governance model had failed to bring an end to excessive drinking, hazing, sexual assault and overly large disruptive gatherings within their organizations.. As a service to alumni and the public who were unable to access the live broadcast of the meeting, the following is an excerpt of the comments I prepared and the vote results for each agenda item. Learn more about addressing the board and how to sign up. Christopher Baxter He was a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, and served as both its president and vice president. I was the teaching assistant for COMM 409: News Media Ethics - one of the only undergraduate teaching assistants at Penn State. Board of Trustees | Penn State University. William Schreyer -- a Penn State trustee whose daughter is a longtime board member of The Second . Like other boards of trustees throughout the state, USC's trustees are not paid a salary. Proposed Authorization to Engage External Auditors (Action Item 1). They have some skin in the game, as it were, and their personal connection with the university can be affected by what happens to and at Penn State. STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State's Board of Trustees elected banking executive Karen Peetz to lead the embattled board and help the school negotiate the aftermath of a nightmarish child. There was an error processing your request. Roth and trustees David . I think they were all deemed to be permanent for the benefit and safety of the students.. There is always one very straightforward financial consideration: a trustee's compensation is taxable income. The 38-member board spent more than $155,500 on food and associated costs for the gatherings an average of nearly $26,000 for each two-day event. The group made local news last week after allowing its fraternities to register State Pattys weekend social events for the first time since 2011. This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Spotlight PA is different. Costs that are as much as double the costs incurred by many of our Big10 cohorts for similar projects, as I have discussed here. The average Board Member salary in Texas is $72,974 as of January 26, 2023, but the range typically falls between $56,258 and $90,123. University officials said they are exploring other ways to increase revenue, which typically comes from tuition and state appropriations. The university, in creating the new compliance model in 2017, cited research that Greek life members were more likely to be heavy drinkers than the general student population and fraternity members were more likely to commit sexual assault then their peers in the general student population. [2] Undergraduate students do not elect any trustees; the court case Benner v. Oswald ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not require the undergraduate students be allowed to participate in the selection of trustees. If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here. SUPPORT THIS JOURNALISM and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/statecollege. Thanks for reading Barry Fenchak For Penn State Trustee! In building the proposed 2021-22 Operating Budget, Penn State has placed the highest priority on keeping tuition affordable while continuing to provide a high-quality educational experience to students. The following year, Penn State created the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform, which helped launch a scorecard system for fraternity and sorority chapters across the country. Our readers keep us independent, beholden to no outside influence, and accessible to everyone whether they can afford to pay for news, or not. From giant corporations to predatory hedge funds, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about whats happening here. So it is money thats going back to the university for those services.. Consider it just one more family responsibility, which you meet because it's the right thing to do, not because you're being paid for it. Specifically, there are 38 members of the Penn State Board of Trustees (36 of whom have votes) and they are as follows: The reason this has become an exercise in futility for me is because we, the alumni, only choose nine of the 36 voting members of the board. Trustees are not paid and the university reimburses their travel expenses, though some board members forgo that reimbursement, DuBois said. trustee, the follpwlng (described real estate, situated In the county of Jackson and state ot Missouri, to wlt: All ot the south twenty-five (35) feet of lot three (3). And because as trustee, you're in control of those assets, that means you're in charge of paying yourself. Its members include the university's president, the Governor of the Commonwealth, and the state Secretaries of Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, and Education, as well as a representative for the Governor. region. Then we should provide 5% of the board seats to the faculty and staff of the University so their voice can be heard in its governance. This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. This button displays the currently selected search type. I was recently talking to a seasoned Microsoft programmer who has to remind his younger counterparts that just because no one is complaining about a piece of software functionality doesnt mean its working. This article and all of our journalism are available to you at no cost thanks to our supporters. Next, the citizens of Pennsylvania and the commonwealth itself have some stake in the university since the name Pennsylvania State University implies a connection. The pledge cost Penn relatively little; the market value of its endowment increased by 38 percent, or $5.6 billion, in the following year. To someone like myself, who works in the investment management field, considering other factors aside from pure financials is common and prudent. In three of the past four completed fiscal years, the boards annual spending was more than $300,000, the exception being the pandemic-affected 2020-21 fiscal year when the trustees spent $89,168, according to the finance reports. The trustees, on the other hand, are the governance that sets the strategies and policies of Penn State. Coming off a $127 million deficit last year, Penn State is under a blanket strategic hiring freeze until at least the summer of 2023 to help balance its budget. Trustees appointed by the Governor serve until their successors have been appointed and confirmed. A committee of the Board of Trustees, including many of its most influential leaders, has also come under scrutiny for regularly holding private meetings that potentially violate Pennsylvanias transparency law. As a service to alumni and the public who were unable to access the live broadcast of the meeting, the following is an excerpt of the comments I prepared and the vote results for each agenda item. . This is the story of her high-wire act. One searches in vain for public praise of Penn's payment of the TCJA tax. Penn States Board of Trustees supported the 2017 changes, which included restrictions on socials, deferred recruitment from fall to spring semester, increased monitoring of Greek-letter organizations, and university oversight of misconduct adjudication. This will provide the best opportunity for the university to be responsive to the desires of its lifeblood those who are and were educated by Penn State. block. Janiyah Davis, student in Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts, was elected as a student trustee, a position she will hold for two years. Interested to expand my network of PSU alums because all voices deserve to be heard, and all are . Every day the university chugs along. But considering a more robust set of factors, including the consideration that TESLA might become a future market leader in a rapidly growing business, or that TESLAs leadership team had a strong track record of successful innovation a prudent investment manager might very well have made that investment. The Penn State Board of Trustees is the 38-member[1] governing body for The Pennsylvania State University. ), Proposed Purchase of Property at 131-151 Mendels Way, Benner Township, Centre County (Action Item 5), [This purchase will provide real estate to further Penn States Agricultural Research efforts.]. What happened to the arrest, use of force data Penn State police promised to release? Youve been reading our work. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Penn State's board of trustees is dominated by a few wealthy and well-connected insiders, demands permanent secrecy, silences dissent and is in dire need of reform,. And how do we define what the right thing is? As announced by The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees Wednesday night, Bradley will assume head coaching duties for the Penn State Football team for the . Edward P. Junker, III, Retired Vice Chairman, Robert D. Metzgar, Former President, North Penn Pipe & Supply, Incorporated, L. J. Rowell, Jr., Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Provident Mutual Life Insurance, Kevin R. Steele, Past President, Penn State Alumni Association, Cecile M. Springer, President, Springer Associates, Paul V. Suhey, Orthopedic Surgeon, Martin & Suhey Orthopedics, Boyd E. Wolff, Retired, Owner and Operator Wolfden Farms. Board membership is less stressful and time-consuming than earlier positions board members have taken on, while still offering an impressive income. In the alumni election, the distribution of votes per candidate was as follows: Additionally, Donald Cairns was elected and incumbent Chris Hoffman was reelected by the delegates of agricultural societies, Robert Fenza and Mary Lee Schneider were reelected as trustees representing business and industry, Julie Anna Potts was reelected as an at-large trustee and Nicholas Rowland was elected as the boards academic trustee. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest not profit motives. In that case, lets use the ratio of alumni and student members to provide us with an answer here. It could get very expensive with regard to damaging the endowments investment performance - and all the fallout that entails. Otherwise, we will always be behind. Steve A. Garban, Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations/Treasurer Emeritus. foundations and readers like you In a statement, DuBois said the board is aware of meeting costs and has worked for years to save money. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Spotlight PAs free weekly newsletter and get Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results. Email: bot@psu.edu, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST Hazleton, Pennsylvania native Jim Bognet has been connected to Penn State his entire life. In an internal memo obtained by Spotlight PA, the university declares it is time to recalibrate the relationships involved so the pendulum moves toward chapter self-governance, and away from University monitoring and intervention., According to the document, Penn State plans to end the regular monitoring of chapter houses, allow first-semester recruitment, and help Greek organizations that want to reestablish themselves at the university. Employees have questioned university leadership about a $71,000 raise for a top administrator, the creation of a new vice president position during the hiring freeze, and increases to employees workloads at a time when wages are outpaced by inflation. Penn States recent spending comes during a university-wide effort to tighten its belt and a recent tuition hike. Photo by Michael Tauriello | Onward State. The younger programmers default to these statistics when determining which problems to fix. (Action Item 8), [Authorizes the Vice President of Finance to execute the LCB applications for various locations on campus. . We dont believe vital investigative and public-service journalism should be hidden behind a paywall or only for those who can afford a subscription fee. You'll have to report it on your annual income tax return, and pay tax on it. And at the same time we will remove the futility some of us feel with the current trustee elections. 2022 Board of Trustees election results announced | Penn State University Three incumbent trustees and five new members were elected or appointed to serve on the Penn State Board of Trustees today (May 6). Wyatt Massey of Spotlight PA State College, agreed to tighten some of its Greek life rules, recognizes more than 60 Greek-letter organizations, register State Pattys weekend social events, Unequal election policies disenfranchised Pennsylvania voters in 2022, by Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PA and Carter Walker of Votebeat, How anxiety came to dominate the big business of medical marijuana cards in Pennsylvania, Thousands of Pa. homeowners feel stuck in a high-stakes game of telephone with their homes, vital utilities on the line, What the public can and cant know about Four Diamonds, beneficiary of Penn State THONs fundraising, Grudges, tribalism, and infighting rife in Pennsylvania borough that hired the cop who killed Tamir Rice, by Min Xian of Spotlight PA State College, A complete guide and amendment tracker for proposed changes to Pennsylvanias Constitution, Penn State English teaching faculty say they arent paid a living wage, by Wyatt Massey of Spotlight PA State College. The university declined to say whether any of the changes outlined in the November memo violate that agreement. And it also enables us to share that work with more than 90 newsroom partners in your community and communities across the state at no charge. Spotlight PA relies on funding from University Park, PA 16802, Phone: (814) 865-2521 Furthermore, in Penn State University there were people in high place that know about Sandusky behavior and did nothing. Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Michael Driscoll was the top earner among the State System schools at $438,000. During its May 7 meeting, the Penn State Board of Trustee's Committee on Governance and Long. Hundreds of Penn State faculty are publicly and privately questioning university leadership. In 1998-99, Ohio State s average faculty salary was $66,890, which was 1.9 percent below the benchmark average of $68,170. Everyone deserves access to the facts. Having spent decades in nonprofit management, if the members of the governing board are engaged and motivated, the number is not a critical issue. Editor in Chief. The fine increases to $500 to $2,000 for subsequent offenses. David R. Jones, Retired Assistant Managing Editor. The board uses The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center which the university owns but is expected to sell this fall for some of its meetings at University Park. spotlightpa.org/donate. [4] Regular meetings of the board are held bi-monthly and take place primarily on the University Park campus, although on occasion meetings are held at other locations within the Commonwealth.[5]. So it is money thats going back to the university for those services.. They are the ones whose association with the university is affected the most by what happens to and at Penn State both positive or negative. Mycommitment is to continue to work with each of you to ensure our focus, as a board, remains on strategic matters such as affordability, financial management, innovation, the future of higher education and ensuring Penn State is an inclusive environment for all., Your engagement with the board is critical and necessary to support. Penn States Lion Ambassadors were accused of hazing. In a statement, the university said it remains committed to the safety of all Penn State students and any changes in Greek life at Penn State would only be put into place after carefully considering how they would impact the well-being of our students., After publication, Penn State confirmed the proposed changes to Greek life oversight have not occurred. Right now, we are not even close in fundraising. Valerie L. Detwiler (2022) Senior Vice President, Senior Commercial Banker, Lynn A. Dietrich (2023) Retired Professional Engineer (PE). Although Boards of Advisors do not have fiduciary responsibility, the President, Provost and Board of Trustees rely heavily on these boards to help inform the work of the schools and centers. His dad, brother, and sister all graduated from the university, along with at least 20 of his cousins. Penn State operated at a $166 million deficit the last academic year, using its central reserves to off-set the shortfall, with Thorndike acknowledging such a practice is not sustainable. Randolph B. Houston, Jr. (2023) Assistant General Counsel, Charles C. Brosius, Retired President, Marlboro Mushrooms, Walter J. Conti, Retired Owner, Cross Keys Inn/Pipersville Inn, Donald M. Cook, Jr., Retired President, SEMCOR, Incorporated, Marian U. Barash Coppersmith, Retired Chairman of the Board, The Barash Group. We on this Board might think that adding the ESG language is not a change from that type of decision making process. Then third, how do we define what the right thing is for Penn State? He first served on the Board of Trustees from 2012 through 2018 before winning another term in 2020. With gratitude, These changes, which the university has not publicly acknowledged, were discussed on Nov. 16, 2022, during a private gathering of university leadership, Greek life leaders, and members of the Committee on Academic Affairs, Research and Student Life, which is part of the Board of Trustees. Trustees spent around $318,000 on expenses like food and lodging during meetings for its 38 board . In order to achieve our goals we must have people to guide and lead the way for us. Nolan is soiling them tor 12.60. Professors, administrators and staff are being hired, producing work, managing others, getting paid and retiring. Serving on Penn State's Board of Trustees, elected by the alumni, since 2014. Penn State's Board of Trustees elected or appointed six incumbent trustees and five new members during its meeting Friday. Chairman Keith Masser sent an email to trustees around 8 p.m. Friday announcing that Karen P (Note: Trustee Lubrano voted Nay earlier in the Finance Committee meeting. 2023Spotlight PA228 Walnut St., #11728Harrisburg, PA 17108-1728. However, the document notes that hazing and other safety concerns, including sexual misconduct remain a concern and returning to full self-governance, especially for Greek groups connected to the Interfraternity Council, could undo positive changes gained from the 2017 changes.