Fireworks at PSU board meeting over presidential selection process

Weeks after Pennsylvania State University's search for a new president suffered a setback, a verbal battle over the process erupted at a committee meeting of the board of trustees on Thursday.

Trustee Anthony Lubrano said the board should allow all trustees to meet with and interview the final three candidates. Only 12 of the 32 trustees serve on the search committee. A group of trustees who have been critical of the board leadership including Lubrano were excluded.

"It's a valid concern when you say to 18 members of the board: Here's a person. You can vote up or down. This is the most important role we play as trustees," Lubrano said, referring to the hiring of a president.

The board last month suddenly canceled a public meeting where it was to vote on a new president. The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union subsequently reported that the board's pick was David R. Smith, president of the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, who was under review for accepting unauthorized payments in his current post. The outside payments were uncovered by a search firm that works for both Penn State and SUNY, the newspaper reported.

A new pick now is likely months away.

The board, Lubrano said, will not get a unanimous vote on its next president if the process isn't more inclusive.

But board members Paul Silvis, Keith Eckel and newcomer Richard Dandrea said they support the current process, citing the need to insure confidentiality – critical to attracting the best candidate.

"I've seen problems with the failure to maintain confidential information by members of the board," Dandrea said.

Board members, Eckel said, must trust their colleagues on the search committee to do a good job.

"You have to have confidence in the people you are working with," he said.

Lubrano retorted: "Well, I think the confidence has been eroded over the last two years quite significantly, Keith. And to refuse to acknowledge that is to keep your head in the sand."

Dandrea maintained that the full board agreed to the search process before it started and should not change course.

"That's the attitude … We don't correct mistakes. We just have to live with it," Lubrano shot back.

"It's so typical of the process of getting disruptive when you don't get your way," Dandrea responded.

Lubrano said later that the board should add trustee William Oldsey, a senior executive in the educational publishing industry, to the selection council. He said he will consult with his board colleagues and may raise the issue again at the full board meeting on Friday.

Also at Thursday's meetings, the board announced it had hired Holly Gregory, a New York-based consultant, to review board size, make-up, selection procedures and the overall governance structure. The board has been under fire since the child sex abuse scandal involving former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky erupted two years ago.