CDT, local news organizations sue over Penn State’s ‘gag policy’ for trustees
Three news organizations, including the Centre Daily Times, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the leaders of Penn State’s governing body over what they called an unconstitutional gag policy that violates the First Amendment.
The federal lawsuit — filed in tandem with StateCollege.com and Spotlight PA — takes aim at the board of trustees’ recently updated bylaws that require members to support majority decisions and clear all board-related media interactions with leadership in advance.
Represented by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, the outlets argued the policies effectively censor dissenting viewpoints and cut off the public’s right to receive information about how the taxpayer-funded institution is run.
“Penn State’s gag policy not only controls what members of the Board of Trustees can say but also whether they can even speak publicly at all about the Commonwealth’s largest public university, which raises serious constitutional concerns,” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press attorney Paula Knudsen Burke said in a written statement.
“Trustees who wish to share their independent insights on important issues are effectively barred from doing so, and the result is a Penn State community and broader public that’s less informed about what’s happening at an institution that reports almost $16 billion in economic impact on Pennsylvania.”
A Penn State spokesperson declined comment Wednesday, saying the university does not comment on pending litigation. Knudsen Burke also represents the CDT in unrelated litigation involving access to Penn State police overtime records.
The lawsuit named Chairman David M. Kleppinger, Vice Chairman Richard S. Sokolov and governance committee Chairman Daniel A. Onorato — the three with the power to enforce the policies — as defendants.
The bylaws were most recently amended by the board in November. Outgoing trustee Anthony Lubrano was the only one who voted against the changes, which also allow the board to consider removing a member if they violate the bylaws.
While Penn State has previously defended its policies as commonplace in higher education, the lawsuit alleges the university has already used them to crack down on dissenting voices.
Emerita trustee Alice Pope — an alumni-elected board member from 2014 to 2023 — said she received a formal reprimand last year after publicly questioning the board’s decision to close seven of 20 commonwealth campuses, according to the filing.
As a result of disciplinary actions taken against dissenting voices, Pope said in the lawsuit that she has become “more cautious and selective about what I say publicly, even when I believe speaking would benefit the University and its community.”
The lawsuit asked U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann to find that two sections of the university bylaws violate the First Amendment, as well as prohibiting the board from enforcing the policies.
“The right to dissent is the lifeblood of democracy,” attorney and Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic Associate Director Heather E. Murray said in a written statement. “Blanket bans on trustees making critical statements about Penn State stakeholders and requiring Trustees to get pre-approval to talk to journalists about any matters that have come before the Board plainly runs afoul of the First Amendment.”
