Letters: Revised bylaws undermine transparency; Casey’s impact felt in Centre County

Revised bylaws undermine transparency

No doubt changes in our board’s administration are needed, as reflected in our $100 million operating deficit, highest tuition and near-bottom academic ranking (Big 10) and skyrocketing new debt (stadium).

However, the motivation for the bylaws revision (July 2024) appears to be something else — stifle public comment from trustees who raise alarm about these disturbing trends. The revised bylaws state, “... critical public statements about the Board ... do not serve the University interests and are inconsistent with a Trustee’s fiduciary interests... “ ( Trustee Code of Conduct). The Governance Committee is now authorized to recommend that offending trustees be counseled, admonished, sanctioned or removed (Trustee Sanction and Removal). Moreover, alumni who aspire to serve as trustees (9 of 36) must now be approved by this Governance Board, a clear lack of respect for the judgment of our voting alumni.

But there may be a silver lining in this revision. Standing Order (VIII-1b) is a performance report regularly ignored by our board. This Order states “.... Trustees shall inform the citizens of Pennsylvania of the University’s performance of its role in the education of the youth of Pennsylvania” Notwithstanding disturbing trends (operating deficits, tuition increases, low academic ranking, etc), mandated reports have not been issued. Our Code of Conduct states “Trustees must adhere to the By-laws, any Standing Orders ... Trustees agree that they are subject to sanction up to and including removal ... “ Does the non-adherence of this Standing Order mandate counseling, admonishing, sanctioning or removing?

Casey’s impact felt in Centre County

During the eight years I served on State College Borough Council, I found no better advocate for infrastructure or the needs of state, county and municipal governments than Senator Robert Casey, Jr. Senator Casey understood the state of Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and the need for rural broadband. I also found his office to be staffed with well-informed and enthusiastic people.

My first visits to his office were during the frustrating Trump-Pence years when all we got was the all-talk-no-action PR campaign called “Infrastructure Week.”

Fortunately, with the Biden-Harris administration, with Senator Casey’s enthusiastic support and, sometimes, with Vice President Harris’ tie breaking vote, we got the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPs and Science Act.

Space does not permit me to describe everything that has resulted from these acts, but I will give some that impact Centre County: (1) the replacement of the dangerous interchange between I-80 and I-99; (2) State College Borough’s Calder Way Project, a modern pedestrian mall; (3) the $65 billion provided by the Infrastructure Act for rural broadband nationwide. None of this would have been possible without advocates like Senator Casey. Moreover, it was Senator Casey’s office that informed me of his efforts to get funding from the CHIPs and Science Act to Pennsylvania universities such as Penn State.

Local governments will always need federal infrastructure funding. That is one of many reasons that Pennsylvania needs to reelect Senator Casey and to make Vice President Kamala Harris our next president.

Warning of a dangerous plan

At recent rallies, Donald Trump has been saying variations of the following: “Get out and vote this time, but after this you won’t have to vote anymore. In four years we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not gonna have to vote.”

What does he mean by this? That by 2028 they will have “fixed” the outcome of the election so that they are declared the winner even without having the votes?

This is the standard form of a democracy-to-fascism transformation. The Nazi Party legitimately won its way to political power in Germany in the early 1930s via elections, but, once there, was able to stay in power by “fixing” (actually eliminating) elections so that future voting was not needed. Russia is similar today. They hold elections, but outcomes are predetermined so the result is the same whether or not people actually vote.

If the MAGA Republicans do have a scheme in mind to accomplish this, it would be better for them to keep it confidential until after this year’s election. But Trump is so undisciplined that he can’t resist bragging about this clever plan in advance. Of course, as usual, he doesn’t put any meat on the bones by explaining how this goal can be achieved. He likely did not concoct the plan himself, and probably does not understand the underlying strategy.

Hopefully giving voters advanced warning of the plan at this time can prevent its implementation by defeating Trump here in 2024.

McCormick running in the wrong state

We have news for Dave McCormick: There is a U.S. Senate race this year in Connecticut. That’s right, Senator Chris Murphy is up for reelection in Connecticut in November

.Longtime Connecticut resident McCormick must not have known this, because why else would he be running for the Senate from Pennsylvania?

Why else would he be spending his money to jet into Pennsylvania to campaign and then jet back to the Nutmeg State? Perhaps he was afraid to run against Murphy? Or perhaps he thinks Pennsylvania voters aren’t very bright and wouldn’t catch on to him, so he could just buy himself a Senate seat from here. No matter, it’s not a good look.

Would someone please tell Nutmeg Dave about the Senate election in Connecticut where he lives? It turns out that the Connecticut primary elections are Aug. 13, so he still has just enough time to jump in.

He should do it and save himself the embarrassment of losing in PA for the second time. Sad for Dave, but the voters here will turn out to be a lot smarter than he thinks.