Penn State Board Should Reject Closure Plans

Following is a statement from AAUP President Todd Wolfson:

The news that Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi has asked university trustees to approve closing seven of its campuses despite the fact that university finances are strong is dismaying. So is the fact that administrators arrived at this proposal without faculty involvement in decision making.

The threatened campuses serve thousands of students and employ hundreds of faculty and staff across Pennsylvania. They are vital to the university’s land grant mission. The proposal to substitute online classes for the in-person instruction, mentoring, research, and service conducted at these campuses does a disservice to students and their communities and threatens the academic integrity of existing programs as well as quality, equity, and access. Had President Bendapudi consulted with the faculty who teach, the staff who serve, and the students pursuing their education at these campuses, she would already know these things.

When program closure is a possibility, AAUP policy provides for faculty members to be involved in consultation and deliberation at every stage of the process, beginning with a determination that a state of financial exigency exists. Because they bear primary responsibility for curricular matters that affect the educational missions of institutions, faculty should be deeply involved in changes to educational programs. Faculty should play a primary role in determining, based on educational considerations, whether faculty appointments will be terminated and, if so, in developing the criteria for identifying which appointments will be terminated.

The AAUP calls on the Penn State Board of Trustees to reject these campus closures and go back to the drawing board to develop plans that will serve all Pennsylvania students well.