News outlets sue Penn State trustees over speech limits
The newsrooms say the bylaws block trustees from criticizing the board and require prior approval before speaking to reporters, threatening discipline for violations.
- Three news organizations filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania challenging a Penn State Board of Trustees policy that restricts members from making "negative" or "critical" public statements.
- Amendments adopted over the past two years require trustees to obtain advance approval from the Board Office before speaking with reporters, with violators facing "admonishment," "sanction," or "removal" from their positions.
- Emerita Trustee Alice Pope received a formal reprimand last year for publicly criticizing the university's decision to close seven of its 20 campuses, which she understood as "a formal reprimand and a warning" that further speech could affect her committee assignments.
- The lawsuit names Board Chair David Kleppinger, Vice Chair Richard Sokolov, and Governance Committee Chair Dan Onorato as defendants, while attorney Paula Knudsen Burke argued the policy leaves the public less informed about an institution with nearly $16 billion in economic impact.
- This legal challenge follows prior transparency battles at Penn State, including a 2025 settlement requiring open-meetings training for trustees, with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press representing the news outlets in this First Amendment case.
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3 Pennsylvania newsrooms sue Penn State trustee leaders over ‘gag policy’ that silences members
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service...
Spotlight PA, other newsrooms sue Penn State trustee leaders over ‘gag policy’ that silences members
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. STATE COLLEGE — Spotlight PA and two other news [...]
Pennsylvania newsrooms challenge Penn State’s unconstitutional ‘gag’ policy
Attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press are representing three news outlets in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania State University policy that censors the speech of the school’s trustees, making it harder for journalists to report news about the state’s largest university. In a complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Centre Daily…
News outlets sue Penn State trustees over speech limits
STATE COLLEGE — Spotlight PA and two other news organizations are suing leaders of the Penn State Board of Trustees in federal court, accusing them of violating the First Amendment by controlling what individual trustees can say to the public and the press. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, challenges what it refers to as a “gag policy” embedded in the trustees’ bylaws. That policy, …
Local Newsrooms File Lawsuit Seeking to End Penn State Board of Trustees ‘Gag Policy’
Three local news outlets on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit arguing that speech restrictions imposed on members of Penn State’s Board of Trustees are unconstitutional and should be struck down. StateCollege.com, the Centre Daily Times and Spotlight PA state in the complaint that bylaw changes adopted by the board in the last two years amount to a “gag policy” that violates the Constitution's First and 14th Amendments. Bylaw changes approved in…
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- 67% of the sources are Center
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