Trustees Call For Special Meeting, Anger Keith Masser

The Board of Trustees’ alumni-elected members called for a special meeting of the board at 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 15 at the Penn Stater to consider Anthony Lubrano’s resolution that would add Penn State as plaintiff in Sen. Jake Corman’s lawsuit against the NCAA. In a strongly worded response, Chairman Keith Masser said he is “concerned by the single-minded focus and the steady stream of resolutions that have required inordinate amounts of trustee time spent on one issue, and deflected attention from a wide range of vital university issues.”

“This is a significant problem,” wrote Masser about the call for a meeting. “It is incumbent upon this Board to devote more time in 2015 dealing with the critical issues that affect our University and, most importantly, our students. Our fiduciary responsibility as trustees demands this.”

At the trustees’ last meeting in November, Lubrano presented the resolution, and board Vice Chair Kathleen Casey immediately motioned that the trustees should meet in executive session before voting on it for legal reasons. That led to a spat of trustee bickering, in which the alumni and old guard expressed different outlooks on when the resolution should go to vote. Eventually,

In his letter, Masser attempted to defend the trustees’ inexplicable vote to, as Al Lord would say, “kick it down the road.”

“I recognize that there is a trial set for early January and the proposed resolution could be moot by the time of the January meeting,” Masser wrote. “Nevertheless, this was known at the time the Board voted to postpone consideration, and a clear majority voted for the postponement.”

A notice on the special meeting will be given from Masser tomorrow.

Below, you can find Lubrano’s resolution, the alumni trustees’ letter to Masser, and Masser’s repsonse.

Proposed Resolution Special Meeting 12-15-14

Letter to Keith Masser for Special Meetingpdf