Key facts
- Penn State's Board of Trustees and its committees held nearly 20 private conferences between June 2025 and May 2026.
- Legal and First Amendment experts believe these sessions may violate Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act, which governs open meetings.
- The law allows closed-door conferences for training or seminars, but these sessions reportedly included operational briefings on budgets, contracts, and construction projects.
- University President Neeli Bendapudi and Penn State Health CEO Michael Kupferman were among the officials who led these private briefings.
- Disclosures revealing the nature of these conferences were made public following a legal settlement between Spotlight PA and Penn State.
Nearly 20 private conferences held by the Penn State Board of Trustees and its committees over the past year may be in violation of Pennsylvania's open meetings law, according to a review by Spotlight PA. Legal and First Amendment experts suggest these sessions, which included operational briefings on topics like construction projects, budgets, contracts, and unionization, function more like deliberations than the permissible 'training program or seminar' exceptions allowed under the state's Sunshine Act.
University records show that top officials, including President Neeli Bendapudi and Penn State Health CEO Michael Kupferman, led many of these closed-door meetings. Bendapudi reportedly provided updates on unionization, state funding, and institutional priorities, while Kupferman discussed the financial performance and strategic developments of Penn State Health. Senior Vice President Sara Thorndike also led sessions on the budget and campus projects.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, stated that "updates from staff are generally not considered a training program or seminar," questioning the legality of these sessions. Amy Kristin Sanders, a professor of First Amendment studies at Penn State, echoed these concerns, suggesting the university's broad interpretation of the conference exception might be an attempt to conduct public business in private, undermining the transparency the Sunshine Act aims to foster.
A spokesperson for Penn State, Wyatt DuBois, maintained that the university believes the sessions comply with the law, stating that "conference sessions in which information may be provided to trustees for the purpose of fulfilling their fiduciary duties are permitted." He added that no official action is taken during these conferences. The substance of these meetings only became public following a June 2025 legal settlement between Spotlight PA and Penn State, which compelled the university to disclose the details of these previously private sessions.