Secretive group of Penn State trustees meet in public for first time since 2011

A secretive committee of top Penn State University officials met publicly for the first time in almost 13 years on Thursday morning.

The Board of Trustees’ executive committee met via video for around 20 minutes to outline the agendas for the board’s meetings next week in State College — work it previously did in private. The university has argued those closed-door gatherings were allowable under the state’s open meetings statute, but some media law experts have questioned the practice.

Penn State did not answer a question from Spotlight PA about why the board’s executive committee was now meeting in public, instead pointing to comments made during the Thursday meeting.

Matthew Schuyler, chair of the board, told trustees that, under the board’s recently updated bylaws, the executive committee will meet ahead of the board’s public meetings. The group’s work will increase efficiency, identify areas of disagreement among trustees, and ensure that board gatherings are more focused on discussions, Schuyler said.

Melissa Melewsky — media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which Spotlight PA is a member — said greater openness by the university is an encouraging sign. “It’s wonderful to see the Penn State Board of Trustees moving in a more transparent direction, and I hope it continues,” Melewsky said.

The committee’s last public meeting occurred in December 2011 during the fallout of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Since then, the board has regularly approved members to serve on the executive committee, but there is no public record of those meetings, which led one trustee in 2022 to question the group’s purpose.

When Spotlight PA first reported on the committee that year, a university official said the committee had met privately five times in 2022.

Penn State’s executive committee consists of the leaders of the board’s other committees, as well as trustees that are appointed to the group by the board and the university president, who is a non-voting member. According to the board’s bylaws, the executive committee exists to conduct “necessary business” between full board meetings, manage board operations, and oversee university activities that go beyond existing trustee committees.

Penn State’s board and its committees are subject to Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, which determines public access to governing bodies. The university previously argued the executive committee could meet privately for planning purposes because the group was not deliberating on “agency business.”

In 2022, the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described Penn State’s explanation as “self-serving nonsense,” and TribLIVE’s editorial board questioned Penn State’s commitment to transparency when the university was asking for more taxpayer money.

On Thursday, leaders of the board’s various committees outlined what each group will discuss next week. In several instances, though, trustees were encouraged to review information that is not public, such as updates on the university’s finances and health system. The committee did not deliberate on any items or vote.

Spotlight PA, in partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, sued the trustees in December for alleged violations of the Sunshine Act. The suit — which was amended to include additional alleged violations following the board’s February and May meetings — argues the trustees illegally conducted public business in private.

In its legal response to the allegations, the university said the lawsuit included “unsupported, vague allegations and bald conclusions of law.” The university maintains that it follows the law. The case is ongoing in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas.

Penn State’s board is scheduled to meet in State College next week for its last regular meeting of the year.