Penn State Forward helped elect 2 trustees. Here’s why it won’t back candidates in 2024
A progressive coalition that helped elect two Penn State alumni trustees over the last two board of trustees elections recently announced it would not back any candidates this year — but the group is not going away permanently either.
Penn State Forward, a group founded three years ago by 2022 graduate Nora Van Horn, supported three candidates in each of the 2022 and 2023 alumni trustees’ election cycles. The coalition surprised even its founder when one of its candidates, decorated atmospheric scientist Christa Hasenkopf, won a seat in 2022, and it built off momentum in 2023 with the election of another candidate in Ali Krieger, a two-time Women’s World Cup champ who emphasized making Penn State more inclusive.
Penn State Forward was expected to continue building momentum in 2024. But, in an email to supporters earlier this month, the coalition that emphasizes climate action, equity, reform/transparency and workers’ rights announced it was taking at least this next election cycle off.
“This decision may come as a disappointment to many of our supporters,” Van Horn wrote in the email. “But I believe it’s in the best long-term interest of the campaign for several reasons.”
She later added in the email that “this is not the end of Penn State Forward,” although she stopped short of expressly saying the group would return to supporting candidates in 2025.
In the emailed explanation to supporters, Van Horn said she was unable to coordinate a strong 2024 campaign while balancing other commitments. She also believed a pause could prove beneficial, by offering time to evaluate past campaigns, explore alternate routes of advocacy and prepare for future elections.
“I believe a poorly run campaign would be more detrimental to the Penn State Forward movement than taking a year off,” Van Horn added.
It’s difficult to argue that Penn State Forward has not made an impact since its 2021 creation. Last year’s voter turnout of 25,620 was the highest since at least 2017, with one of the group’s candidates earning the most votes in Krieger (12,141). More young alumni participated, and Penn State Forward’s candidates have also helped champion several changes while on the board, including to the board’s investment policy, which now allows it to take social and environmental considerations into account.
Still, change can be difficult on Penn State’s board of trustees.
The alumni-elected trustees comprise only a minority of the university’s overall 38-member board, which has 36 voting members and two non-voting members in the university president and Pennsylvania governor. Nine trustees are elected by alumni, with staggered three-year terms so alumni choose three such trustees every year.
The nomination phase for alumni trustees lasts until Feb. 25. And the election, held at PennStateVotes.com, will take place from 9 a.m. April 10 until 9 a.m. May 2. The results are typically announced no later than the day after the election’s end.
