Penn State Trustee Barry Fenchak is suing Penn State’s Board to obtain access to financial records necessary for him to provide proper oversight of the University’s activities. His court filing states the following:
“While no active malfeasance, such as conflicts of interest or other impediments, is alleged, it is notable that any such issues would also be impossible to detect or correct without the requested information.”
Although Penn State is a public University, the actions of Penn State’s Board have made it increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens even to observe the Board’s decision-making processes. Additionally, they have potentially excluded Penn State’s alumni from having any meaningful say in the University’s governance.
In 2017, after losing a lawsuit to several of Penn State’s alumni-elected trustees that required the Board to disclose information it had wanted to keep secret, the Board changed its bylaws so that trustees who sue the University can no longer be reimbursed for their expenses even if the Court determines the University was in the wrong. This almost always makes it prohibitively expensive for any trustee to hold the University accountable if the administration or the Board improperly refuses to disclose information that a trustee needs to fulfill their oversight responsibilities.
Earlier this summer, Penn State’s Board further changed its bylaws to require that any alumni-elected trustee candidates must be approved by the Board before being allowed even to appear on a ballot. It is quite possible that once the current alumni trustees’ terms have ended, no new trustee candidates who might ever question the Board’s decisions may ever be allowed to appear on an alumni trustee election ballot again.
Barry Fenchak’s lawsuit may be the last chance the Penn State community has to uncover and correct any possible conflicts of interest that may be causing some of Penn State’s Board members to subordinate the University’s and the community’s best interests in favor of their own.
The costs of Barry’s lawsuit are substantial, and there is no possibility of reimbursement from the University even if he prevails. A GoFundMe account has been established by other concerned alumni at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-penn-state-trustee-barry-fenchaks-legal-fund to help raise support for Barry’s legal fees (with Barry’s approval).
If you would like to support Barry’s efforts to provide proper oversight of the University while there is still time to make a difference, please make a contribution of any size to the GoFundMe account for his legal fees. An option to make your donation anonymously is available.
Andrew Shaffer,
State College
Childless People Are Not Worthless
Who hasn’t heard JD Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment? The Republican candidate for vice president has repeatedly expressed contempt for women without children, once referring to them as “childless sociopaths.”
In a 2021 interview with fellow misogynist Tucker Carlson, Vance suggested that “childless” people should pay more in taxes than those who “actually have kids” and therefore “a more direct stake in the future of this country.”
What?!
“Childless” Americans contribute more to the economy than those with children—and they already pay higher income taxes because they don’t receive the federal Child Tax Credit.
“Childless” Americans pay the same school taxes as those with children, but do not receive any direct benefits (although everyone benefits from an educated populace).
“Childless” Americans actually pay for other people’s children when their tax dollars support subsidized health care, free school lunches, expanded broadband access and much more.
Contrary to Vance’s assertions, well-educated people who leave the workforce to raise children create a financial drag on the economy. Consider that women’s declining participation in the workforce during the pandemic cost the U.S. economy $650 billion annually.
Highly-trained professionals, many of whom received government-funded training, who choose to stay home with their children use tax dollars to attain their success, but don’t provide the societal benefit expected from the public investment.
Vance’s narrow, self-centered argument that mothers are more valuable than non-mothers reeks of misogyny—and reveals both his intolerance and his misunderstanding of the American economy.
Harvey Gilbert,
State College
No Sense of Decency
Republican calls for unity after the assassination attempt were short-lived, replaced by increasing vitriol against President Biden and Vice President—and Presidential candidate—Kamala Harris.
Biden served our country well for 50 years. True to character, he sacrificed his personal ambitions for the good of the country by ending his bid for reelection. In return, the Republican ticket doubled down on the cruel and boorish attacks, reinforcing concerns about their own campaign. (Americans have long claimed that both Biden and Trump were too old and should step aside.)
It didn’t take long for Republicans to call Harris the “DEI candidate,” attributing her achievements to preferential treatment owing to race and gender. Republican elected officials piled on with racist and sexist attacks against Harris, leading party leaders to remind them to behave.
Republicans seem to believe that only white men have earned their success and deserve power. Successful women and people of color, MAGA argues, have been given opportunities they “don’t deserve” and “didn’t earn.” Hence the attempts to discredit Harris.
Such Republican tactics are nothing new. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy maliciously and falsely accused prominent citizens of being Communists. After McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of being soft on communism, the Army hired attorney Joseph Welch to defend them. When McCarthy attacked Welch’s law associate as a communist, Welch retorted: “Have you no sense of decency?”
In their unrelenting racist and misogynistic attacks, today’s Republicans clearly show us that they have no sense of decency.
Margie Swoboda,
Julian
