The move would reduce the size of the board from 32 to 30 voting members, and a quorum would require 16 members.
View full size
Penn State board of trustees is considering taking trustee votes away from the state governor and the university's president.
The Pennsylvania governor and the president of Penn State would no longer be voting members of the university board of trustees under a recommendation made to the trustees today.
The board’s governance committee voted unanimously to recommend the change, which could be voted by the trustees in May.
It would reduce the size of the board from 32 to 30 voting members, and a quorum would require 16 members instead of the current 13. Penn State’s lawyers said the board has the authority to make the change, and it would not require legislative approval.
Committee chairman James Broadhurst said members feel strongly that the board should not shrink more dramatically.
“We need all the members that we have on this board to transact business at this time,” he said.
Messages seeking comment from Gov. Tom Corbett’s office were not immediately returned.
Another recommendation would cut the time required for notice before the board meets, from 10 to three days. Some trustees said that would eliminate much of the need for the smaller executive committee to meet and make decisions.
The rewrite also would clean up antiquated language, dealing with such subjects as the type of labor Penn State students are required to perform on the school’s behalf.
Still ahead is a presentation by trustee Ken Frazier about the school’s report into how the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal was handled.
Penn State commissioned the examination of the scandal by a group led by former FBI director Louis Freeh. It’s been a target for critics since its release last summer, and the family of former football coach Joe Paterno recently issued its own response.
On Tuesday, the university released a document long sought by the board’s critics that detailed the agreement made with Freeh to investigate the Sandusky scandal.
The letter from Freeh was signed Dec. 2, 2011, by then-board chair Steve Garban and trustee Kenneth Frazier, who headed the trustees committee to which Freeh reported.
Freeh concluded that Paterno and three school administrators acted to conceal allegations against Sandusky to protect the school’s image. The administrators have vehemently denied the findings.
Paterno died in January 2012. Last month, an exhaustive critique commissioned by his family called Freeh’s findings inaccurate and unfounded, and resulted in a “rush to injustice.”
That review raised new questions about the report and the university’s handling of the findings from the alumni critics, some ex-players and a handful of trustees, including the outspoken Anthony Lubrano. In particular, Lubrano has said the school should ask for a refund from Freeh because the investigation was not full or complete.
Sandusky, a former assistant under Paterno, is serving prison time after being convicted of child molestation charges.