"I will be voting against the resolution for the Lasch Building," Trustee Paterno said. "My former boss use to say, 'football is here to serve the university, not the other way around.'"
No tuition dollars or general funds are financing the proposed upgrades.
For the fifth year in a row, Penn State's online degree programs received national recognition.
Administrators will vote later this semester to officially implement alternative grading.
Penn State hopes the decision will ease high schoolers' anxieties while testing is disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Chu, 69, served as one of the college's original faculty members when it first enrolled students back in 1999.