Are Penn State’s commonwealth campuses at risk of closing? Faculty senate seeks answers
As rumors swirl about Penn State closing some of its commonwealth campuses, the faculty senate spent a chunk of time Tuesday discussing the state of the campuses.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the faculty senate asked university leadership questions about an array of things, including the future of commonwealth campuses. The senate also had a “frank and open” discussion about the state of commonwealth campuses as an agenda item.
Penn State has 19 commonwealth campuses in addition to University Park. Last year, the university offered a buyout program at the campuses, which resulted in an overall 10% reduction in personnel, implemented a regional leadership model that has many commonwealth campuses being led by one administration, and leaned more heavily into shared services among campuses.
Questions and concerns about the future of the campus system have continued over the past year, with about a dozen professors speaking out during Tuesday’s meeting.
Julie Gallagher, a professor at Penn State Brandywine, said rumors of some campuses being shut down is contributing to extremely low morale.
“There’s deep, deep concern, profoundly, almost historically low morale — I’ve been here almost 20 years, I’ve never seen it like this — and many rumors circulating about campus closures. And so I’m going to ask you directly, are there campuses slated to be closed, and if so, (what) was the criteria being used which decide which campuses and what is the timeline?” Gallagher said.
Margo DelliCarpini, vice president for commonwealth campuses and executive chancellor, didn’t give a direct yes or no answer. Instead, she acknowledged the “very challenging times” that not only Penn State is experiencing, but higher education as a whole. She said enrollment is something the commonwealth campuses continue to struggle with, and student success and experience is the “guiding light” used to make decisions for the future.
The administration is putting together all of the feedback gathered during collaborative planning sessions, data from the academic program portfolio review and enrollment data, DelliCarpini said. What is clear is that the current campus ecosystem is not sustainable in how it is currently operating, she said.
“We are looking at a number of ways to think about the best path forward. We’re exploring creative avenues to keep our campus ecosystem vibrant, looking at economic and workforce development hubs, applied research and community impact hubs, establishing dual enrollment pathways, thinking about how we can partner with ourselves to build capacity,” DelliCarpini said. “…We are just committed to continuing to serve our students and to the Commonwealth in the most effective ways possible, but also understanding that we are really looking at challenging landscape ahead of us. And so I just want to share where we are. We’re looking at data. We’re not taking decisions lightly that we have to make, but we’re also operating within the current realities of the day that we’re in right now, and looking at how we create a sustainable ecosystem for the future.”
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi told the faculty senate that said she understood the sense of uncertainty and reiterated her commitment to students and employees. Later, she said that there’s no “magic answer” to questions about if they’ve decided to close campuses.
“It is true that as we are looking at data, as we are looking at trends, as we are looking at the next 20 years, that we must adapt and we must evolve. The mission is incredibly important, and I am so proud of the work that we do, but we have to invest, we have to adapt, so that we are thriving for 20 years from now, 30 years from now,” Bendapudi said. “I believe in the transformative power of what we do. I believe in what we can do, but it might mean that we have to adapt and evolve within the ecosystem to keep our promise, because ultimately it always comes down to our true north is our students. What kind of experience are we providing for our students? What kind of environment are we creating for our faculty and staff? How do we create a situation where we are thriving and not constantly struggling?”
Others worried about the budget model and said it didn’t work for the campuses. They feared that if performance is defined through enrollment, the campuses would not “perform well” in that model. Kristen Pueschel, an associate teaching professor at Penn State New Kensington, said although they’re doing good work, the metrics are set up in a way that gives them no hope of doing well, and it feels predetermined.
More concerns about tuition rates and losing students completely if campuses shut down were raised as well. Many students who attend commonwealth campuses are non-traditional and would not be able to switch to another campus, Victor Brunsden, an associate professor at Penn State Altoona, said. In turn, that would impact the budget.
“Many of the students who might be at DuBois won’t be able to go to Altoona, for example. So if you close a campus, you lose most of those students, you lose the revenue, but your budget model doesn’t change. So it seems as though, and I don’t think that this was intentional, but the end result is that, unless you go back and seriously reconsider this budget model now — and I mean now — you are going to kill the campuses and you are going to damage the entire university because you will cut off the supply of students,” he said.
The lack of answers at Tuesday’s meeting seemed to frustrate some including Roger Egolf, an associate professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, who said it would be better for everyone at the campuses if the administration gave a direct answer. Rumors can be destructive and if they’re not addressed directly, people will believe them and will get bigger, he said.
“There are many campuses holding their breath, being demoralized and floundering because they really don’t know. I really think it would be better to just come out and say it as soon as possible, so that people can move on with their lives, either those that are at campuses that resources are going to be put into and they will survive, so those people can get back to doing their job and not spending all of their time worrying and fretting, and for those that are at campuses that are going to close so they can get on with their lives also and start searching …,” Egolf said.
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