Over the past year, the Penn State Board of Trustees and its committees held nearly 20 private conferences in which top university officials briefed members on key projects, plans, and initiatives, a Spotlight PA review of university records found.
The practice potentially runs afoul of Pennsylvania鈥檚 open meetings law, according to legal and First Amendment experts.
The state鈥檚 Sunshine Act permits closed-door conferences, but only if they serve as a 鈥渢raining program or seminar,鈥� or are arranged by state or federal agencies. The law stipulates the sessions be 鈥渙rganized and conducted for the sole purpose of providing information to agency members on matters directly related to their official responsibilities.鈥�
Yet a year鈥檚 worth of meeting minutes and recordings reviewed by Spotlight PA show a pattern that potentially veers outside those boundaries. Between June 2025 and May, the board and its committees held nearly 20 private conferences that functioned less like training sessions or seminars and more like operational briefings.
Instead of a singular educational focus, conferences sometimes had multiple distinct topics, with university officials giving updates on construction projects, campus closures, budgets, contracts, and unionization.
Melissa Melewsky 鈥� media law counsel for the Pennsylvania 太子探花Media Association, of which Spotlight PA is a member 鈥� said the majority of these conferences 鈥渄on鈥檛 appear to fit the definition鈥� of a 鈥渃onference.鈥�
In an email, she said 鈥渦pdates from staff are generally not considered a training program or seminar,鈥� adding that 鈥渢heir connection to conferences under the Sunshine Act is questionable.鈥�
Amy Kristin Sanders, an expert on government transparency and a professor of First Amendment studies at Penn State, told Spotlight PA in an email that the university is interpreting the conference exception 鈥渧ery broadly 鈥� much more broadly than I would or that boards I鈥檓 familiar with or have sat on would.鈥�
A spokesperson for Penn State did not respond to specific questions from Spotlight PA, including why these updates must be given in private and whether any discussion takes place at these conferences. Instead, they sent a statement saying the university believes the conference sessions 鈥渁re structured to comply with the law.鈥�
鈥淐onference sessions in which information may be provided to trustees for the purpose of fulfilling their fiduciary duties are permitted under Pennsylvania Sunshine Law,鈥� Wyatt DuBois, senior director of university public relations, said in an email. 鈥淭he board does not take any official action during conferences.鈥�
The substance of these conferences only became public following a between Spotlight PA and Penn State, which forced the university to disclose the specific topics and presenters at these closed-door sessions.
The disclosures revealed university leaders were the primary presenters at these conferences. According to Spotlight PA鈥檚 review, over the 12-month period:
Sanders questioned whether the conferences 鈥� given their proximity to regular board meetings and the near-unanimity of votes taken 鈥� were an 鈥渁ttempt to conduct public deliberation in private.鈥�
鈥淭he topics discussed are, in many instances, clearly of interest to citizens of the Commonwealth and it is hard to believe any information provided during those sessions wouldn鈥檛 have impacted Trustees鈥� views on future action items,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or Penn State to keep these sessions closed from the public contravenes the transparency and accountability the Sunshine Act is designed to foster.鈥�
Under Pennsylvania law, the Sunshine Act is triggered when a quorum of a board is actively 鈥渄eliberating鈥� 鈥� which is broadly defined as 鈥渢he discussion of agency business held for the purpose of making a decision,鈥� according to Melewsky.
She noted that if trustees are completely silent during these conferences, the law technically might not apply. However, she added that 鈥渆ven if the board is just listening and the act doesn鈥檛 apply, the questions become: 鈥榃hy are these sessions referred to as a 鈥榗onference鈥� and why is the public excluded?鈥欌��
鈥淭he Sunshine Act sets the floor for public access, not the ceiling; the board can be more transparent than the law requires,鈥� she said.
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