Penn State trustees won’t put Barry Fenchak on ballot for reelection to board. What to know
An outspoken member of the Penn State board of trustees was deemed unqualified and ineligible to be on the ballot for reelection Wednesday during a meeting of a newly created nominating subcommittee.
The Penn State board of trustees’ nominating subcommittee voted 8-1 that Barry Fenchak, an alumni-elected trustee, is unqualified and ineligible to have his name on the ballot in the upcoming alumni trustee election. He’s been on the board since 2022, with a tumultuous past year that has included suing the university and board for withholding financial information from him, and surviving the board’s attempt to remove him.
The subcommittee, chaired by Daniel Onorato, reviewed 19 candidates who received the required 50 signatures and submitted the appropriate paperwork to be on the ballot. Subcommittee members had objections to three candidates overall but only had a 2/3 majority vote to deem Fenchak ineligible.
Daniel Delligatti, vice chair of the subcommittee, said he had concerns about Fenchak because his record of service includes eight letters advising him he failed to abide by board standards of conduct. He specifically mentioned one letter, which detailed Fenchak’s “inappropriate behavior” toward a university employee last summer that violated the board’s past expectations of memberships and current code of conduct.
After the board’s July meeting, Fenchak loosely repeated a quote from the PG-rated movie “A League of Their Own” in which Tom Hanks’ character told a baseball umpire he looked like a “penis with a little hat on” to a female staff member. The board previously tried to permanently remove Fenchak from the board in the fall because of the incident.
“Two other employees witnessed the interaction and corroborated the account. All three employees indicated that comments made them feel uncomfortable and that they did not end the conversation with candidate Fenchak in light of the position as a trustee. Based on this incident, candidate Fenchak’s materials do not reflect alignment with Penn State’s mission and values, and for that reason, I move that candidate unqualified and not included in the ballot,” Delligatti said. Trustee Randy Black seconded the motion.
Jay Paterno was the only other subcommittee member to speak. He said based on the process that was outlined, this is outside the scope of their review to disqualify candidates. The criteria used to evaluate candidates includes the candidate’s alignment with Penn State’s mission and values, the contribution of needed skills the candidate would bring, past professional and personal leadership experience, demonstrated engagement and contributions to the university, which for incumbents includes a review of their record of service with the board, and a background check.
The meeting was held via Zoom and Fenchak had his hand raised to speak, but Onorato said non-subcommittee members were unable to participate in the deliberations.
Trustees Delligatti, Black, Robert Beard, Robert Fenza, Chris Hoffman, Ali Krieger, Nicholas Rowland and Mary Lee Schneider voted in favor of deeming Fenchak unqualified and to not put his name on the ballot. Paterno voted against the motion.
When the board tried to remove Fenchak in the fall, the issue went to court as part of a lawsuit Fenchak filed against the board. The judge blocked the board from removing him as trustee.
Fenchak told the Centre Daily Times he needed to consult with his legal counsel about the board’s decision because to him, it appears that the vote violates the judge’s injunction by not allowing him on the ballot.
“I am not surprised this happened, because of the well-documented pattern of retaliatory actions that the Board of Trustees has imposed upon me since I became a trustee,” Fenchak said in a text message.
This is the first election cycle under bylaws that were updated in the summer, a controversial decision that gave the trustees a bigger say in who can appear on the ballot in the alumni trustee election. They created a nominating subcommittee and gave them the ability to review alumni trustee candidates and determine whether candidates are qualified to be on the ballot.
The nominating subcommittee consists of representatives from all the different categories of trustees. The “rubric” that the subcommittee will use to determine if candidates are qualified can change each election based on the board’s needs. It is part of the subcommittee’s operating guidelines, which are approved by the committee on governance and long-range planning and full board.
Twenty-two candidates received 50 nominations from electors. One person withdrew their nomination and two were ineligible. Of the 19 remaining candidates, Fenchak was the only candidate deemed unqualified.
Motions to deem two other candidates as unqualified due to lack of experience were brought forward but did not receive a 2/3 majority vote, and therefore will be on the ballot.
Another change under the new bylaws was to reduce the number of nominations needed from 250 to 50 as an effort to increase participation in the election.
“One of our key goals as a board has been to increase participation in the alumni trustee election process. We are encouraged by both the number of candidates and the level of alumni engagement in the nomination process this year, as I noted, 22 candidates initially met the requirement to submit nominations from 50 electors, compared to last year, when only five candidates met the previous threshold of 250 nominations,” Onorato said.
There was also an increase in the total number of nomination ballots cast, he said.
There are nine alumni-elected trustees in all and they serve staggered three-year terms with three seats becoming open each year. The election will begin on April 21. Alumni will have until 9 a.m. May 8 to cast their vote. For more information on the alumni trustee election, visit trustees.psu.edu/election.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM.
