A panel of five Commonwealth Court judges questioned attorneys representing Penn State's Dickinson School of Law yesterday about whether the school's Board of Governors had the right to meet privately to discuss moving the school to University Park.

Meanwhile, Rep. John Maher, R-Allegheny and Washington, is seeking to keep the school in Carlisle.

Cumberland County Common Pleas Judge Edward E. Guido said last month that the "informational meeting" should be open because Dickinson is a Penn State "committee" subject to the open meetings law. Dickinson's attorneys argued yesterday that the board was set up as part of a merger agreement in 1997, which made it a separate body.

The Harrisburg Patriot News and The Sentinel of Carlisle went to court in November to try to force the school to open the Board of Governors meeting.

As for the debate over the move, Maher said Penn State administrators made a public promise to keep Dickinson in Carlisle during their statewide tour to promote the merger in the mid-1990s. The merger between Penn State and Dickinson officially took place in 1997.

"Penn State is a great university and has an important role in the community beyond educating the students," he said. "If a public promise is made, it should be kept."

Penn State spokesman Steve MacCarthy said such a promise was never made.

"We said, at the time, we had no intention to move the law school. The covenant of the merger said it couldn't happen without permission from the Board of Governors," he said.

MacCarthy said the Dickinson Board of Governors was created for the sole purpose of approving any move the law school would make, clearly anticipating the possibility of a move at some point in the future.

Maher said he is looking into a number of options to keep Dickinson in Carlisle but is waiting for a response from the university administration about its plans before deciding what he wants to do.

"It's important that when someone uses the good name of Penn State to invoke a promise, that promise would be kept," he said. "It should not depend on whether or not there is someone to punish dishonorable behavior."

MacCarthy said the university will answer Maher's questions and should be meeting with him sometime in the near future.

Maher said while he does not have plans to reduce or hold funding to the university, there may be some sort of stipulation concerning state funds. This is only one option of many being considered, he added.

"I have no wish or intention to penalize students for ill-advised actions of a handful of administrators," he said.

MacCarthy said any member of the state Legislature can introduce a bill for any purpose, but overall, the university feels the entire Legislature will act for the best intentions of all students.

"Our very strong feeling is that the Legislature will act in the best interest of Penn State as a whole, and not seriously damage the prospects of 83,000 students on one local issue," he said.

Board of Governors Chair LeRoy Zimmerman has asked the committees to work efficiently but gather all the information they needed to properly inform the board. No timetable for a decision has been made at this time.

MacCarthy said the trend is for a law school to be located on the campus of large universities to increase interactions between students and faculty.

"If someone was majoring in business law, then they would want to interact with faculty in the field of business," he said as an example.

Office of Physical Plant spokesman Paul Ruskin said various on-campus locations for the law school are being considered, should it move to University Park.

"We have had discussions and a tour to look at possible sites," he said. "We've been asked to look at possibilities but have not reached any conclusions."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.