Penn State trustees can't move forward with a vote to remove an outspoken board member that had been scheduled for Thursday, under a ruling from a Centre County judge.
Under the preliminary injunction, alumni-elected trustee Barry Fenchak can continue serving on the board. He said he welcomed the ruling.
“This is certainly the ruling we were hoping for and honestly the ruling that we felt we were entitled to, but you never know," Fenchak said.
Fenchak had filed a lawsuit against the board in July, in an effort to get additional information about university expenses. He said this ruling will help to continue those efforts — “asking the courts to compel Penn State leadership to be more open and transparent and obey the law.”
Trustees had been scheduled to vote on removing Fenchak for an off-color joke he made while talking with Penn State employees after a board meeting. That led to a board investigation and a recommendation from a board committee to remove Fenchak.
A university spokesman said in an email Thursday that, "We are reviewing the judge’s decision and determining next steps."
In his ruling, Judge Brian Marshall notes that steps have already been taken by the board of trustees, including requiring Fenchak to attend board meetings via Zoom. And, Marshall wrote, the temporary injunction serves the public interest by “preventing the potentially retaliatory termination of a trustee based on that trustee’s inquiries of the public university that he serves.”
