Some Penn State reforms may extend to other Pa.-related schools

Soon-to-be proposed legislation to reform Penn State’s board of trustees would not address one similar problem at Pennsylvania’s three other state-supported universities.

One of the measures set to be introduced by state Rep. Scott Conklin, R-Centre, would shrink the size of Penn State’s 32-member board.

State Auditor General Jack Wagner suggested such a move in a report blasting Penn State’s governance structure in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. But the proposal wouldn’t address Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln universities, which also have unusually large trustee boards.

Conklin says it’s Penn State’s particular board structure, not its size, that he wants to address.

“The auditor general’s report did not address the size of the other universities. His concern with the other state-related (schools) was transparency,” Conklin said. “That we are addressing.”

Conklin says he’s calling for other measures that apply to all the state-related schools – such as requiring trustees at all four universities to disclose any financial conflicts of interest.

His legislation would also subject the state-related schools to Pennsylvania’s open records law, with some exceptions.