Judge blocks Penn State board from voting to remove a trustee who has sought financial records

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge has blocked Penn State’s Board of Trustees from voting to remove a member who is suing the board over access to financial information, calling the vote potentially “retaliatory.”

Board member Barry Fenchak, an investment advisor, believes the board has been paying unusually high advisory fees on its $4.5 billion endowment. The fees have tripled since 2018, the Centre County judge said.

Fenchak, voted to an alumni seat on the board in 2022, also wants details on the planned $700 million renovation of Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, which holds more than 100,000 people. The board approved of the stadium updates this year.

In blocking Fenchak’s removal on Wednesday, Centre County Judge Brian K. Marshall said he had provided testimony and evidence “of retaliatory behavior that he has faced at the hands of defendants.”

The board had accused Fenchak of violating its code of conduct when he allegedly made an off-color remark to a university staff person in July after a meeting at the school’s Altoona campus. The 36-member board had planned to vote on his removal on Thursday.

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The judge said there were other ways to address the alleged offense without removing Fenchak. He is now attending meetings virtually.

“Allowing his removal would re-cast a shadow over the financial operations of defendants, to the detriment of every PSU (Penn State University) stakeholder except those at the very top of PSU’s hierarchy,” Marshall wrote.

The investment fees have jumped from 0.62% before 2018 to about 2.5% in 2018-19 and above 1.8% in the years since, the judge said in the order.

“Penn State wants to operate behind closed doors with ‘yes men’ and ‘yes women.’ And trustee Fenchak is asking questions,” his lawyer, Terry Mutchler, said Thursday. “The board doesn’t like it, and they tried to kick him out the door.”

Penn State’s media relations office did not have an immediate response to the ruling.

Meanwhile, a second outspoken Penn State trustee has a lawsuit pending against the board over the cost of defending himself in an internal board investigation. A judge in Lackawanna County ruled last month that the board must stop its investigation into Anthony Lubrano until it pays his legal costs. Lubrano had tried, unsuccessfully, to have the stadium renamed for the late coach Joe Paterno. The nature of the investigation remains confidential.