Penn State leaders did not rule out the possibility of campus closures when asked about it during a Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday.
Julie Gallagher, a faculty member from Penn State Brandywine, said there are deep levels of concern, fear and rumors about the future at the campuses.
Speaking to Penn State leaders, she said she was going to be direct and asked: “Are there campuses slated to be closed?”
In response, Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Margo DelliCarpini said it’s a challenging time for higher education. Penn State, she said, is studying potential future enrollments and program options.
“What is clear to us as a result of looking at all of this is that our current campus ecosystem, which we know was created decades ago when things were very different in higher education, it’s not sustainable in its current — the way that it’s operating and the way that it looks currently," she said.
President Neeli Bendapudi agreed, saying the university has to evolve. She asked that as Penn State goes through the process, “We will continue to have conversations and continue to think about how can we do this in a way that sets Penn State up for success and our people — our faculty, our staff, our students — for success for the long term.”
Penn State has been overhauling its budget process and evaluating the campuses and their programs. That has included voluntary faculty and staff buyouts at some campuses, along with merging some administrations and jobs.
Speaking later in the meeting, Roger Egolf, a faculty member at Penn State Lehigh Valley, said what he got from the response to Gallagher's question was that some campuses will eventually be closed, but the university isn't ready to say which ones or when.
“The way it is now, there are many campuses holding their breath, being demoralized, floundering because they really don’t know," he said.
Egolf said he thinks it would be better to know as soon as possible which, if any, campuses will be shut down.
