Partial transcript from Barron's appearance before the State Appropriations hearing in Harrisburg (and what I would have asked him)
Full video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDidKhtNAAU&feature=youtu.be&t=1h41m34s:
Barron asked about Yudichak's Bill (starting at the 1:34 mark in the video):
Claims to have no knowledge of the proposal, then states: "I very much appreciate that I have a diverse board"
What I would have asked next - Mr Barron, is there any reason to believe that you could not/would not have a diverse board….in fact that you would likely have a MORE diverse board….if those members were democratically elected, rather than having many of the Trustees self-appointed through a secretive, inbred process that PRECLUDES accountability?"
When asked about the right of the PSU BOT to unilaterally make changes to the board structure, even though many of those parameters where initially established by the State Assembly:
First, he inanely blames Jerry Sandusky as "the gift that keeps on giving", and continues to avoid the question…."we are truly unique, and that partly reflects the scope of our degrees"…"When you go back to a time when we are not in a crisis, you have trouble getting people to serve as elected trustees, because everybody is satisfied with the way things are going……from our alumni base you are talking maybe 4% voting (tell me that isn't straight from Dicky Dandrea LOL. At this point the Senator should have said something along the lines of "If the concern is that 10,000 voters is not as representative as you would like….isn't it 10,000 times worse when members are seated to the Board with ZERO votes?)
Instead, the Senator states (appropriately enough): "Can I get you to focus on the question, which is the structure of the Board and how the Board operates"
Barron goes on to just bloviate some more "What we are watching is born out of Crisis and not Functionality?"
Are you freaking kidding me…..the crisis EXPOSED the dysfunctionality of the Board…..we wouldn't have had a CRISIS of this magnitude - except for the DISFUNCTIONALITY of the Board! Unreal.
Barron "We will get to the point where that crisis is behind us, and that Board will be functional from everybody's viewpoint".
POW!!!! Louisville slugger time. He is STILL using the Peetz "move on" mantra? Unbelievable!
And then it's back to the Dandrea talking points. Barron: "I am incredibly proud of our diversity. The student rep is very valuable…I would not want to give up the student rep"…"The faculty…incredible value, I would not want to give that up"
VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE!!! Well, as if we didn't already know how these bastards were going to spin…there you go. "The evil folks in Harrisburg want to silence the students and faculty". OMG!
What the Senator should have followed up with: "If you want Faculty and Students to have a voice, perhaps we should enfranchise Faculty and Student to vote for all of the candidates for positions on the Board….rather than to have one designated seat on the board. I don't think that the concerns are with the voices of the Faculty and the Students, I believe the concerns are with unaccountable trustees who may not be acting in the best interests of the University."
Folks - down in Harrisburg and among the elected Trustees - need to get in front of this issue ASAP. Allowing them to frame this need for reform as an "anti-faculty/student" measure - as ludicrous as that is - will happen if they are not faced head on with what the real issue is.
When asked about the large number of Board members:
"Size is an interesting characteristic…I believe we all have 36 members (referencing Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln)"….."Not as big as some, not as large as some……which means you have a lot of committees that do a lot of work that a smaller board can't."
This statement is another where you want to get out the Louisville Slugger. What should have been asked at this point is:
"You say that this 36 member board allows you to get more tasks accomplished. And yet, the large majority of your Board was - and is - completely disengaged from the most basic and vital activities of Board fiduciary responsibility. The large majority of the Board NEVER vetted any of the candidates for University President. This is the most vital function of any University Board. The large majority of your Board claims to have had no knowledge of the events you referenced as "The gift that keeps on giving"….even when those events had been disclosed in a story published in the Harrisburg Patriot newspaper……the vast majority of your Board claims to have had no awareness or input into the entire NCAA Consent Decree process - a process which has cost Penn State, to date, hundreds of millions of dollars. Tel me, Mr Barron, what are all these folks spending their time on that is more vital than all of these issues that they claim to be completely ignorant and unaware of?"
Boy-O-Boy-O-Boy………what I wouldn't give to be able to sit on that committee for ten minutes and ask the questions that should be asked.
The gloves need to come off.
This post was edited on 3/26 9:31 AM by bjf1984
Full video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDidKhtNAAU&feature=youtu.be&t=1h41m34s:
Barron asked about Yudichak's Bill (starting at the 1:34 mark in the video):
Claims to have no knowledge of the proposal, then states: "I very much appreciate that I have a diverse board"
What I would have asked next - Mr Barron, is there any reason to believe that you could not/would not have a diverse board….in fact that you would likely have a MORE diverse board….if those members were democratically elected, rather than having many of the Trustees self-appointed through a secretive, inbred process that PRECLUDES accountability?"
When asked about the right of the PSU BOT to unilaterally make changes to the board structure, even though many of those parameters where initially established by the State Assembly:
First, he inanely blames Jerry Sandusky as "the gift that keeps on giving", and continues to avoid the question…."we are truly unique, and that partly reflects the scope of our degrees"…"When you go back to a time when we are not in a crisis, you have trouble getting people to serve as elected trustees, because everybody is satisfied with the way things are going……from our alumni base you are talking maybe 4% voting (tell me that isn't straight from Dicky Dandrea LOL. At this point the Senator should have said something along the lines of "If the concern is that 10,000 voters is not as representative as you would like….isn't it 10,000 times worse when members are seated to the Board with ZERO votes?)
Instead, the Senator states (appropriately enough): "Can I get you to focus on the question, which is the structure of the Board and how the Board operates"
Barron goes on to just bloviate some more "What we are watching is born out of Crisis and not Functionality?"
Are you freaking kidding me…..the crisis EXPOSED the dysfunctionality of the Board…..we wouldn't have had a CRISIS of this magnitude - except for the DISFUNCTIONALITY of the Board! Unreal.
Barron "We will get to the point where that crisis is behind us, and that Board will be functional from everybody's viewpoint".
POW!!!! Louisville slugger time. He is STILL using the Peetz "move on" mantra? Unbelievable!
And then it's back to the Dandrea talking points. Barron: "I am incredibly proud of our diversity. The student rep is very valuable…I would not want to give up the student rep"…"The faculty…incredible value, I would not want to give that up"
VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE!!! Well, as if we didn't already know how these bastards were going to spin…there you go. "The evil folks in Harrisburg want to silence the students and faculty". OMG!
What the Senator should have followed up with: "If you want Faculty and Students to have a voice, perhaps we should enfranchise Faculty and Student to vote for all of the candidates for positions on the Board….rather than to have one designated seat on the board. I don't think that the concerns are with the voices of the Faculty and the Students, I believe the concerns are with unaccountable trustees who may not be acting in the best interests of the University."
Folks - down in Harrisburg and among the elected Trustees - need to get in front of this issue ASAP. Allowing them to frame this need for reform as an "anti-faculty/student" measure - as ludicrous as that is - will happen if they are not faced head on with what the real issue is.
When asked about the large number of Board members:
"Size is an interesting characteristic…I believe we all have 36 members (referencing Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln)"….."Not as big as some, not as large as some……which means you have a lot of committees that do a lot of work that a smaller board can't."
This statement is another where you want to get out the Louisville Slugger. What should have been asked at this point is:
"You say that this 36 member board allows you to get more tasks accomplished. And yet, the large majority of your Board was - and is - completely disengaged from the most basic and vital activities of Board fiduciary responsibility. The large majority of the Board NEVER vetted any of the candidates for University President. This is the most vital function of any University Board. The large majority of your Board claims to have had no knowledge of the events you referenced as "The gift that keeps on giving"….even when those events had been disclosed in a story published in the Harrisburg Patriot newspaper……the vast majority of your Board claims to have had no awareness or input into the entire NCAA Consent Decree process - a process which has cost Penn State, to date, hundreds of millions of dollars. Tel me, Mr Barron, what are all these folks spending their time on that is more vital than all of these issues that they claim to be completely ignorant and unaware of?"
Boy-O-Boy-O-Boy………what I wouldn't give to be able to sit on that committee for ten minutes and ask the questions that should be asked.
The gloves need to come off.
This post was edited on 3/26 9:31 AM by bjf1984
