Anyone catch BOT Public Comments Session-text included

[KC-KS-Lion]

It seemed like the majority of speakers were older alumni imploring the BOT to stand up for Penn State's reputation and publicly review the Freeh report (one mentioned there was more detail in the recent Sandusky court filing and Spanier's lawsuit than the Freeh report), along with a few younger student types throwing out olive branches for cooperation and collaboration.

Here's the text:

>> Good morning, and welcome to today's public come period. Could we find our seats please. We have five speakers with us today. Each speaker will be permitted up to three minutes to comment. With a verbal prompt to assist with the time keeping. Now we are ready. Good morning, and welcome to today's public comment period for our regular board cycle of meetings. We have five speakers with us today. Each speaker will be permitted up to three minutes for comment with a verbal prompt provided to assist with the time keeping. While we are opening to topics included in our agenda for discussion there a few items that are not permitted as items to your puck licks prex. These include issues under negotiate, as part of the university's collective bargaining process. The employment status of any specific individual, statements concerning the private activities lifestyles or beliefs of individuals employed by or associated with the university. Grievances of individual students or employees, proposals or bids for contracts, pending or threaten the litigation involving the university. As I introduce each speaker I ask that you please come to the podium to make your remarks of. Our speaker has asked to talk about the academic and student trustee process. Jeff.
>> Jeff: Thank you Mr. Chairman. In the past I have addressed you folks as an alumni of the university. Today I am going to be addressing you as a student. When I was a student at Penn State I was very involved with the affairs of the university. I was chairman of students for Pennsylvania public research group and I was student government Senator I was consumer affairs chairman for the organization of town independent students and I was a member of the fraternity council. I will tell you now as a student I am disappointed and angry. Back then we were pushing hard for a permanent student representative to the board of trustees. The former governor has begun the tradition to appoint a student to the board and then that student was ratified. We are in a position now where this board has recognized that it makes sense to have a permanent student representative as well as a permanent faculty representative of the board. However, you are also reserving the right to ratify and approve of the choices the students make. The student representative is here not to represent the board but to represent the students. At yesterday's governance committee meeting the student body, the student leadership was praised for the rigorous process that they used to choose a very able individual to represent the student body.
Back when I was a student the student leadership had many differences of opinion with the university. In fact, prior to the year that I enrolled in Penn State the students asked the board to push for university president's resignation. What happens if we are in a situation again where the students and the trustees conflict and you don't like the student's representative? Show some trust. Show some honor to the students for hard work they have done. They have done well. Later at the board meeting, don't ratify their choice. Welcome their choice. Congratulate them. And let's end this business of the board having to ratify and approve of the student and the academic representatives. Trust the students. We are teaching them to be leaders. Let them lead. Thank you.
(Applause.)
>> KEITH MASSER: Next alumus Steve Masters has asked to address the board on governance.
>> Steve: Thank you for extending me the privilege to address the board. My understanding is that the board of trustees is anxious to move on from the Sanduski's scandal. Joe Paterno's dying wish was the truth be known. I believe that Penn State will not be able o move on until the truth is known. The free report has been widely discredited as being incomplete and based on speculation. The board has been unwilling to reveal the source material that underlies the free report even to the alumni board members in support of their fiduciary responsibilities.
I believe the excuse of protecting confidentiality is a smoke screen. I am wondering if the lack of action (video kout out) the board has something to hide. Penn State will not be able to -- will not be able to be made whole unless and until an objective review of the free report is done. I am very interested in knowing the real reasons that the board fired Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier and I am also interested in why the board decided to hire Louis Free and why the board felt there was no need to review his conclusions.
There has been a lot of misinformation. Past office fact in this story. Based on thr misinformation false narratives have been created and many people have reached incorrect conclusions. These opinions have become entrenched and are very difficult to change in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I urge anyone who is interested in the truth this in matter to carefully read both the Spanier compliant and the Sanduski relief. This have a complete picture of what happened than the free report. I again ask the board to conduct an objective review of the free report. To conduct an investigation in to how this crisis was mismanaged and who the responsible parties were and to take the necessary steps to reverse the damage infliked on the parties that have been harmed as a result of the board's actions. Unfortunately I don't believe the board has any interest in doing these things. The board is in danger of being on the wrong side of history. The truth will eventually be known and when it is I believe the board will can taken to tasz can for their failure to protect the sbrs of this great institution. Thank you.

 

[KC-KS-Lion]

Here's the rest. I couldn't post more than 10,000 characters.

>> KEITH MASSER: Our next speaker is Rob Tribec. Has asked to address the board on matters of governance.
>> Rob: Good morning. With any luck this will be my last time addressing the board from the public speaker session. But in the last three years I have watched this university that I love get torn in half. I have watched people I respected admired who I trusted to run the university cower in the corner while the university was brought to its knees. I have watched this board allow the name and legacy of Joe Paterno be torn. I have watched while the leadership of the board ahowed Lou which free to run rough shod over my university and cast damming allegations against everyone associated with pen state. I have watched while this board allowed a flawed incomplete and wholly discredited report to define our university. I have batched this board become embroiled in infigting, margin Salization of the alumni and trustees and others and refusal to acknowledge the errors it has made and watch it ignored overwhelming will of our you a lum any and all the while this board has lost sight of why you sit here. We sit here to educate students at our university. Instead we find our time spend our time fighting about the operations of the university. We need to get back to the core purpose for which we exist. We need to get back to being an elite youfrt without being e letdists and we need to get back to the Penn State we all know and love. This afternoon this board will self-appoint several new trustees. I implore you to move away from the back room clan destine processes of the past. Do not appoint trustees because of patronage or friendships or appoint tru easts who -- do not appoint trustees who have been rejeksed by the alumni and whose sole purpose is continued marginalization of trustees. Do not appoint you a trustees who are afraid to stand up for what is right. We are at a cross roodzs and this university needs to fully emerge from our darkest hour. It cannot do this unless the board rejects the free report for the fraud that it is and it cannot do this unless this board works together collectively and every member has a voice. To move forward we must first acknowledge accept and recommend day the failures of the past and if we didn't do that then every single person in this room should resign today. Do not allow egos and anger to cloud good judgment. Remember a house divided against itself cannot stand. Remember who we are and remember the words success with honor and live them.
>> KEITH MASSER: New PUA speaker of the assembly Emily Miller would like to talk about the relationship between the board and the UPUA. Emily.
>> Emily: Hello everyone. My name is Emily Miller and I am the new speaker of the asemly and I also had the pleasure of meeting some of you yesterday evening. This is something new that we want to do within the UP way to come and speak to the board during public comment and allow to hear the updates and some things going on. A lot of times Emily can provide that but it is in her one committee meeting. So this to open it up and have a better relationship and a better future with the board. So currently we have new leadership and we are in transition mode right now. We had elections the first week of April. The academic affairs committee of the UP way has created an open educational resources report that was submitted to the task force that was appointed by Provost Jones. I sit on that task force and working to find different pilot programs for the fall of 2015. Leadership will be atinding the association of Big Ten schools conference in Maryland this summer to collaborate with other Big Ten schools. Not only on what we are working but initiatives as whole for the Big Ten. We had a student death memorial. The first one that was run by students. It was to honor the lives of those that we lost this past year. It is ex-dreamily successful and a very moving event. Something that we hope to continue in the future. We will also be working on a student platform with differ universities within Pennsylvania. And within the GPSA, CCSG and UP way to bring a unified approach to Harrisberg advocating on behalf of the student governments. For the first time in a very long time the UP way resolution that we passed was brought to the Senate floor and voted on which was to allow post-grad wait interviews as excused absences. So again this is something that very brief and something that we just want to extend our relationship with you and make sure you know what we are working on. So thank you.
(Applause.)
>> KEITH MASSER: Our last speaker is vice-president of the University Park undergraduate Terry Ford who has asked to talk about the UP way's goals and objectives.
>> Thank you Mr. Chairman. My name is Terry Ford. I am the new UP way vice-president. Happy to be here with all of you this morning to talk about the UP way relationship with the board and how we can work together to expand that. I think that there is number of really important objectives that our organization has that not only would be benefitted by the close relationship with the board but is definitely requiring that. So I think the better collaboration that we can achieve together is something that I will be certainly interested in going forward. And on behalf of the president McDonald and myself I want to make very clear that we love to collaborate with any and all trustees who aa sincere interest in student engagement and improving student life here at Penn State and I do apologize for my brevity and I extend that to all of you and wish you a good meeting today. Thank you.
(Applause.)
>> KEITH MASSER: On behalf of the board I want to thank all of you for taking the time to be with us here today. That concludes the public comment session

 

[ApexLion]

Is English a second language for the transcriptionist?

If you typed while listening, ignore that comment and thank you.

No rounds of applause after the non-suck up speakers? What a weird entity the BOT has become. Truly.

 

[Aoshiro]

Is English a second language for the transcriptionist?

If you typed while listening, ignore that comment and thank you.

No rounds of applause after the non-suck up speakers? What a weird entity the BOT has become. Truly.

It's probably a transcript created using voice recognition software. Since I didn't get to watch the comments in real time, I appreciate the fact that someone made the effort to post them here.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

It's probably a transcript created using voice recognition software.

That's what is used, and hence all the typos.

At past meetings, if I wanted to highlight what somebody said, I would have to go in and edit, to the best of my ability, the unofficial transcript that is posted during the live stream, before I posted it. I would never want to do that for the entire transcript, or for all of the public comment speakers.