Penn State BOT Recap
- Thread starter PSUFTG
- Start date
"we must be competitive with our peers, especially Ohio State and Michigan, in raising funds via philanthropy. Otherwise, we will always be behind.
Right now, we are not even close in fundraising. But I know we can be and have been in the past. But we have fallen well short of the mark in the last decade."
Hmmm, I wonder what changed?
Right now, we are not even close in fundraising. But I know we can be and have been in the past. But we have fallen well short of the mark in the last decade."
Hmmm, I wonder what changed?
Interesting that we are behind our b1g athletic peers in fundraising the last ten years. I wonder why that is. 
Perfect post. I'm only responding to give folks an opportunity to read it again."we must be competitive with our peers, especially Ohio State and Michigan, in raising funds via philanthropy. Otherwise, we will always be behind.
Right now, we are not even close in fundraising. But I know we can be and have been in the past. But we have fallen well short of the mark in the last decade."
Hmmm, I wonder what changed?
I’ll say JoePa…you say…Interesting that we are behind our b1g athletic peers in fundraising the last ten years. I wonder why that is.
Interesting that we are behind our b1g athletic peers in fundraising the last ten years. I wonder why that is.
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I‘m sure it’s all just a misunderstanding.
Tangential question: JoePa hit the hustings frequently to raise money for PSU. Does Coach Franklin do the same and how successful is he?
"we must be competitive with our peers, especially Ohio State and Michigan, in raising funds via philanthropy. Otherwise, we will always be behind.
Right now, we are not even close in fundraising. But I know we can be and have been in the past. But we have fallen well short of the mark in the last decade."
Hmmm, I wonder what changed?
No, no, no, I've heard fundraising is nothing but great.
No no no….. all I’ve heard is that the “joebots” and other supporters of JVP need to get with the times, and are the only reason this university, football team and fan base are lagging behind. I’ve seen it numerous times. What you’re saying simply can’t be the case. If it were, all of those people who lash out at JVP supporters would be wrong, and we all know that CAN’T be the case.
I asked that question in the Lion's Den and was ridiculed for the question and told to not be such a JoeBot....i thought it was a fair question. The new majority said i should leave....so i have.
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/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ .......409% accurate!
JVP supporters hit them where it hurts and they have taken notice... In the wallet. They can play it off all they like but the amount of money that has dried up flowing into PSU since the fallout with Joe has been immeasurable. They can say whatever they want about the reasons of money drying up but deep down inside they know the cause of it. It brings many a certain amount of joy knowing they have noticed.
I don't know how PSU tracks estate planning gifts, but many water cooler conversations over the last decade include the phrase "Penn State is out of my will." Continued silence on honoring Joe in some way reflects poorly on the university.
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Your venture into PSU BOT transparency is highly admirable.
I can’t imagine the tight rope you’re walking doing so.
Video of the meeting.
The "voting on stuff" part of the meeting starts at about the 38:30 mark
February 17, 2023 Public Board Meeting - Penn State MediaSpace (kaltura.com)
The "voting on stuff" part of the meeting starts at about the 38:30 mark
February 17, 2023 Public Board Meeting - Penn State MediaSpace (kaltura.com)
Because bequests are revocable and can be large universities make considerable efforts to stay on top of them. PSU, I am told, can be a bit heavy-handed.
Looks like you found the answer, regrettably, the hard way.
Barry, thanks as always for keeping us informed. I continued supporting Penn State over the years despite the deplorable treatment of Joe Paterno but after reading your account of the February BOT meeting, I am done. No entity that adopts an ESG investing approach will receive a red cent from me. The goal of a corporation, endowment fund, etc. is to maximize shareholder wealth. ESG introduces other factors, often politically motivated, that will dilute returns. It is unethical and the fact that the vast majority of trustees voted in favor of it is deeply troubling.
As an example, a 1% decline in investment return = approximately $50 million annual deduction to the endowment.
Where would that loss be impactful? Who is going to "pay for it" should it occur?
2 other Trustees joined me in voting "Nay" - but, obviously, that wasn't enough. I would not be able to look myself in the mirror if I had voted "Yea".
("1%" is, of course, solely an example. Though full blown ESG investment management - according to a study published in Harvard Business Review - showed an average underperformance of approximately 2% per year (with zero - or even negative - impact on the so-called ESG factors). That was, of course, for investment portfolios ~100% invested in equities. Most endowments - like Penn State's - are primarily, but not solely, invested in equities. No one knows exactly where things will end up - or how deep the impact will be - but, for sure, we will always know where it "started" as far as PSU is concerned)
People should be incensed by this. Donors contributed funds to Penn State with the expectation that the money would be invested to maximize return for a given risk profile. The Board has instead now authorized Endowment Fund managers to divert funds away from top performing assets into lower performing assets which meet certain ESG criteria. This is outright thievery. ESG investing is currently outlawed in 22 states. Who decides what constitutes the ESG criteria?
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You want my contributions to resume, put the statue back up, otherwise not one dime.
What the h&^% is Brandon Short talking about around the 43 minute mark? A whispering campaign by certain trustees? He sounds like he was wearing a tinfoil hat. Those are serious accusations.
Yep, and this was a public statement. One can only wonder what he said in the "private" meetings. He needs to be called out on this and made to explain his rant.
I agree with you....but surmise 95% of the BOT are lemmings following the lead of the old guard chosen few.
This is the direct result of Alumni voting in Trustee Christa Hasenkopf who is part to the Penn State Forward. Here is an excerpt from her interview last March and if you listened to the public hearing posted above you'll hear Schuyler thank her for the work she put into the proposal. “I think the piece of our platform around getting Penn State to be carbon neutral by 2035 is extremely urgent and practical,” Hasenkopf said.
Penn State Forward has three more candidates running for office this year so we may be getting more of this if they are elected. Many don't think voting matters, but you need to vote or just accept this as the norm.
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Big investment companies such as Black Rock maintain ESG funds to answer your question. Their thinking is that as more attention is directed towards improving air quality, clean water, solar energy, and climate change world wide, companies with technology towards these initiatives will be good investments.
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You missed the point. It's diversifying assets is usually sound investment strategy which should give consideration to all industry segments including ESG. However, requiring ESG investment, which we all know will quickly become the only investment strategy, is outright stupidity. If it isn't planned to be the investment strategy the acronym ESG would never have be put into the document. That's our BOT once again having fun with Other People's Money, or in this case the money in-trusted to them to be the Fiduciary Overseers.
No I wasn’t advocating for it, so I didn’t miss anything. I was just explaining what it was. You asked who decided what constitutes ESG criteria and I answered you. The big investment families often decide by creating their investment funds. I never said PSU should invest a penny in them. They may turn out to be good investments in the long term though but I have no way of predicting that. I’m not an investment advisor. Generally I agree that diversification and rebalancing is the way to go.
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That much is, of course, true.
The rest?
Every investment company/investment manager has always looked to future trends/markets/opportunities - for the last 100 years. That is what they do, if they want to stay in business. That is not what contemporary ESG investing is (and "contemporary" is the only type of "ESG investing")
And "climate change" advocacy is but one small part - of many - vav "ESG"
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I don’t know why people think this is anything new. Penn State fundraising has always sucked. That is why Penn State endowment has lagged behind especially for the enrollment. This is not a post Sandusky issue although that just put Penn State further behind. The same is true for athletics. During the step roll out they showed Penn state was 5th in the Big Ten. They only knew two ways to raise money. Add more seats or send Joe to close with a big donor.
Penn State has the 11th largest endowment of all public universities in the nation, FWIW. 4th among B10 publics.
Is that good? bad? meh? Who knows, one can decide for themselves.
But, the issue at hand here is the giving to ATHLETICS, specifically.
15 years ago PSU Athletics fundraising was on par - at least in the same ballpark - with the top of the class, with the OSUs, Michigans, etc. Recent years? No, not even close.
Figuring out "why", and - most importantly - correcting that - is a critical issue for PSU ICA's long-term future, IMO.
We were behind Wisconsin, Michigan State and Minnesota when they announced STEP.
While Penn State does have the 11th largest endowment of Public University it is also the largest Public enrollment by 15,000 students. The only schools larger if the online or for profit diploma mills and Liberty University.
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