Leck proposed campus closures attracts the complaint from Penn State

Photo by Jack Anderson-Jussen | Continuing state

After a media report on Monday, the seven Commonwealth campus in Penn State, which was proposed for the closure, identified an explanation in which there was no final decision and the leak of the alleged plans criticized.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the university administration proposed to close the locations of Dubois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York, citing sources near the board of trustees. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirmed the campus on Tuesday with a source.

“It is unfortunate that our communities, which may be affected by campus closures, hear information before a final decision by the board of trustees and an announcement by the university,” wrote Penn State in a statement. “We certainly recognize how personally this decision is for every member of our Commonwealth Campus community and our wider family Penn State. That someone would share this information with the media, knowing how this news would affect our campus communities is really disappointing.”

The board of trustees originally intended to hold a public session on Thursday to check a recommendation, but after he had met privately in the past week before the regular public meeting to discuss the future configuration of the Commonwealth campus and a wide range of subjects associated with it changed the upcoming special meeting to a management sessionA spokesman for Penn State said.

Information about the date and the time for a public session in which a vote would have to take place are shared after the executive session.

In its explanation on Monday evening, the university said until this public vote does not make a final decision.

“It is discouraging to learn this information before a vote of the board of directors,” said David Kleppinger, chairman of the board of trustees. “In view of the complexity of this decision, the trustees will take additional time to review the president's recommendation and the supportive materials. There is considerable information in the full recommendation that is shared according to a vote of the board of directors.

“I find it deeply frustrating that someone has decided to share it with the media with early access to this recommendation without having this information on the members of our campus communities. Our students, faculties and employees deserve it better.”

The seven identified locations belong to the 12 So that President Neeli Bendapudi said in FebruaryTogether with Biber, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Schuylkill and Scranton. The other seven Commonwealth campus that are the largest in the system, as well as the Great Valley and the Special Mission Campus of the university mission level would not be affected.

A committee under the direction of the Vice President of the Commonwealth Campus, Margo Dellicarpini, Interim Executive VP and Provost Tracy Langkilde and Senior Vice President and chief of staff Michael Wade Smith was commissioned to evaluate the campus system and Bendapudi recommendations.

In a March -update the committee wrote that a Several factors would go into the recommendationIncluding enrollment and population decline, how the campus can fit into the university's land grant mission and the student experiences delivered by the campus.

The enrollment has been at the seven proposed locations in the past five years:

• Dubois -32%,
• Fayette -31%,
• Shenango -23%,
• Wilkes -Barre -22%,
• New Kensington -21%,
• Mont Alto -16%,
• York -15%

Bendapudi asked the committee that every recommendation maintains a presence in Penn State in Northeasters PA and in the area of ​​Pittsburgh. While the reported proposal would remove the Wilkes barre campus, he would maintain hazleton, Schuylkill and Scranton in NEPA. Fayette and New Kensington would be closed in the Pittsburgh area and beaver and greater Allegheny remain.

The university will continue to enter all Commonwealth locations in autumn 2025. All students who start a Penn -State degree have the opportunity to complete it at the university, said Bendapudi.

Potential closures were observed by faculty groups, representatives of the trade union unions, several state legislators and some trustees.

In An op-ED published on stateecollege.comThe current trustee Jay Paterno and Ted Brown, the former trustee Alice Pope and Randy Houston and the former member of the Alumni Association, Jeffrey Ballou, wrote that the closure of the campus should be a last way out and that more time was necessary to develop innovative options that “set up and build up and build on our land share mission”.

The academic trustee Nicholas Rowland, professor at Penn State Altoona, wrote in A separate op-e-eD on sentecollege.com that the Commonwealth campus is “not advertising books to cut or liquidate; they are integral parts of the whole.” He wrote that the discussions about the role of the locations must last for years and demanded that the university “do not confuse the need for renewal as a justification for the task”.

The Senate of the University Faculty voted at the end of April around 97-62 for the approval of a Position report in the administration, the planning for potential campus closures to “pause”Referring to considering that the process has moved too quickly, that the effects have not been fully evaluated and that other options have not been adequately taken into account.

The report expressed “Strong opposition to closures of small Penn State Campus” without “making transparent, detailed public reviews and thorough review of the community”.