PA Senate Democrats Call for
Quickening the Pace of Reform at PSU
At a Capitol news conference, Sens. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) and Rob Teplitz (D-Dauphin) called on legislative Republicans and the university to work with them to make significant changes.
The lawmakers said that they are calling for hearings to be held over the summer leading to speedy consideration of comprehensive reform legislation in the fall. The Democrats focused on three specific areas as it related to Penn State: Right-to-Know, ethics and board composition.
Yudichak, who has been a longtime advocate of board reforms but a critic of the pace and depth of the modifications made thus far by the Penn State board, said that it is important for taxpayers to understand that Penn State is accountable and that the General Assembly can force systemic changes in the university’s governing structure.
“The Governor and the General Assembly need to address Board of Governance issues at Penn State that may have contributed to and compounded a scandal that has to date cost the University $46 million and counting,” Yudichak said. “Penn State students, faculty and alumni deserve better than lukewarm attempts to restore full confidence in the Board of Trustees; and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania deserve nothing less than a full commitment to accountability and transparency of its public universities.”
The governor’s proposed budget for this year includes a $272 million appropriation for Penn State.
According to state Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) Penn State’s Board of Trustees has enacted mild reforms but more needs to be done. He also said that changes must be made statutorily and not simply as part of the board’s by-laws. He said that two State Government Committee meetings have been held but no action has been taken on ethics changes or composition of the board.
“We need to quicken the pace of reform and make sure that there is board accountability to not only the university but also to all taxpayers who back Penn State with their tax dollars,” Dinniman said. “There is no plan to halt the appropriation for Penn State this year based on the issues that we are raising, but we are concerned that the board in their deliberations has been resistant to putting Penn State under Right to Know and state ethics legislation.”
“As an alumnus I am very proud of Penn State and want to ensure that it maintains it world-class status,” he added.
Dinniman has introduced reform measures that would address accountability and governance issues. His SB 408 would expand the Ethics Act to cover board members of state-related universities. Another bill that Dinniman authored, SB 410, would make specific changes to Penn State’s governance structure including reducing the board’s size, implementing term limits for board members and limiting the university president’s role among other things.
Teplitz, who formerly served as chief counsel and policy director to Auditor General Jack Wagner, helped prepare a comprehensive report on the governing structure at Penn State. The report included specific reforms. Despite the thoroughness of the report and the detail about the issues involving the Penn State board, few of the recommendations have been implemented, Teplitz said.
“This is not an attempt to force actions now by holding up Penn State’s non-preferred funding this year, but we want to make sure that our Senate Republican colleagues and university officials are involved in substantive discussions of board reforms over the summer,” Teplitz said.
The lawmakers acknowledged that the board has acted on some reforms but the changes adopted thus far are haphazard and do not create the kind of open and transparent governing structure that the university or taxpayers deserve.
The lawmakers also indicated that they support SB 457 which applies the state Right-to-Know act to state-related institutions.
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