Last Thursday, January 16th, we had a hearing in Centre County Court to hear preliminary objections in our lawsuit against the Board of Trustees. Preliminary objections are essentially claims Penn State made asking the Judge to dismiss our suit. They had filed two sets of preliminary objections that made meritless claims (meaning they had no basis in law) including an argument that since I was the only trustee out of thirty-six who was asking for financial information, I was insignificant and my request for information could be ignored. The law requires that requests from any trustee be accommodated, not that all trustees must be engaged or care.
I suppose they realized they couldn’t substantiate these claims because as soon as we were before the judge, Penn State announced they were dropping their preliminary objections.
While we are happy to be able to proceed with our case, Penn State significantly delayed our lawsuit and cost us time and money. A cynic might believe their intent is to ‘bleed me dry’, and resource-wise this is a David versus Goliath situation, but they also wasted the court’s time as well.
It was still a productive session; with Judge Marshall’s permission, we were able to make arguments on an additional motion Penn State filed just last week to compel me to sign a so-called ‘Confidentiality
Agreement’ regarding the information I have requested. We are grateful that Judge Marshall allowed us to expedite the process as opposed to delaying things further.
The proposed document, in our analysis, is far less a confidentiality agreement (which we are amenable to negotiating) than a gag order that would make any access to the information I seek to be of little utility. In addition to being in violation of state law, the stipulations proposed by Penn State would prevent me from engaging other trustees in any meaningful and substantive manner. Such engagement is, of course, our fiduciary duty and fundamental to responsible governance.
Judge Marshall has not indicated when he will rule on Penn State’s motion to compel me to sign the agreement, but I will keep you posted.
Support for our legal fight
Our case is moving along at a good pace, and our team of lawyers has been diligent and effective. We are 82% of the way to our goal of raising $20,000 for legal expenses on GoFundMe. If you have already donated, thank you. If you have the means to do so and want to see Penn State back in the hands of trustees who understand legal university governance, your donation will go to a very good cause. Whether or not you have the means to contribute personally, please help us spread the word and forward the GoFundMe information to all the Penn Staters in your circle.
