Possible closures cause worry at PSU campuses

Students and staff at Penn State’s Greater Allegheny campus in McKeesport are concerned about their future studies and jobs.

A day after learning Penn State University plans to close some of its branch campuses, students and staff at the Greater Allegheny campus in McKeesport reacted with concerns and worry about their futures.

PSU officials announced Tuesday it will close some of its branch campuses, and all four in southwestern Pennsylvania, including Greater Allegheny in McKeesport, could be on the chopping block.

University President Neeli Bendapudi said in a statement she expects a final recommendation to be announced no later than the end of the current semester. She expects to make a final decision before spring commencement.

However, a Penn State spokesman said that no campuses will close before the end of the 2026-27 academic year, according to our news partners at the Tribune Review.

“As I have said many times before, Penn State’s Commonwealth Campus ecosystem is essential to fulfilling our land-grant mission,” Bendapudi stated. “I believe deeply in the role our campuses play in serving Pennsylvania communities, providing access to education, and driving economic opportunity across the state.”

Bendapudi said that Penn State’s commonwealth campus structure “cannot continue with business as usual,” and the university cannot sustain a viable branch campus system without closing some campuses.

Bendapudi cited challenges that are leading to the closures of many branch campuses, including declining enrollment, demographic shifts and financial pressures. She added that other institutions in higher education are dealing with the same issues.

”We now must move forward with a structure that is sustainable, one that allows our strongest campuses — where we can provide our students with the best opportunities for success and engagement — to thrive, while we make difficult but necessary decisions about others,” Bendapudi stated.

A team of Penn State administrators will co-lead a group that will bring a final recommendation on the future composition of the Commonwealth Campus system.

The seven largest branch campuses — Abington, Altoona, Behrend (in Erie), Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and Lehigh Valley — along with a graduate education-focused campus at Great Valley, will remain open. Those campuses make up nearly three-fourths of total commonwealth campus enrollment and two-thirds of campus faculty and staff.

Penn State Dickinson Law, the College of Medicine and the Pennsylvania College of Technology also will remain open. But 12 other branch campuses are under consideration to be closed, which includes Penn State New Kensington in Upper Burrell; Penn State Greater Allegheny in McKeesport; Penn State Beaver in Monaca, Beaver County; and Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus, in North Union, Fayette County.

Faculty reaction

For campuses that close in two years, Bendapudi said faculty can explore opportunities to be reassigned within Penn State, and students will be provided a pathway so they can complete their degrees at Penn State, either on campus or online.

However, Zach Furness, associate professor of communications at Greater Allegheny, said it will likely be difficult for a tenured professor to find similar employment.

“I hope Penn State makes their decision in a timely manner and gives students, faculty and staff the opportunity to make decisions that are going to be the best ones for them, with some advance notice,” Furness said. “I heard about it through the paper before I heard it through the university.”

A faculty vote of no confidence in Bendapudi, which is symbolic in nature, was introduced and ultimately tabled hours after the announcement during a virtual faculty senate meeting Tuesday. About 70% of the university’s 200 faculty senators voted to table the motion, which could be introduced again at a future senate meeting.

Julio Palma, the Penn State Fayette professor who introduced the motion, also attributed it to Penn State’s 2022 cancellation of a planned racial justice center and a new budget model that he believes negatively impacts the branch campuses, graduate programs and research.

Bendapudi cannot be removed from her position by the faculty, nor could a vote stop the plan to close some campuses. Other faculty, even at Greater Allegheny, jumped on the motion, according to Elizabeth Mazur, a psychology professor at the McKeesport branch.

“The other branches that are being kept were too scared to jump on,” Mazur said. “We kind of felt we had nothing to lose. We wanted the public to know how we felt, by overwhelming majorities. It doesn’t have any real weight, but it sends a message.”

Mazur and Furness added that they were both confused that University Park’s campus is getting new buildings and dorms, with an alleged lack of concern with the price tags.

They also added that only Penn State, not the branch campuses, can recruit at high schools, so young students do not know sometimes what options are available. If there were more students sent to the branch campuses, according to faculty, there wouldn’t be a budget issue in the first place.

“It sucks. It’s going to be terrible in the next few years, even if they don’t close us,” Mazur said. “This news would put any student and family on the alert. This is a public institution. There should be a mandate to help out the citizens of Pennsylvania.”

Despite the impending closures, Penn State will continue extending offers and admitting new students for this fall at all campuses.

Impact on McKeesport

Penn State Greater Allegheny in McKeesport, which is on the possible cut list, has close to 400 students pursuing their studies across 13 bachelor’s and associate programs.

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said in a statement that Penn State has “a valuable place” in the local community – not only McKeesport, but the Mon Valley, and even Allegheny County as a whole.

“Penn State has a long history of commitment to positive outcomes in education as well as community and economic development,” Cherepko, a Penn State and Greater Allegheny alum said. “Greater Allegheny’s campus leaders, professors, and other professionals are doing their best to make sure students, small business owners, and community members have access to university resources.”

He added that it’s important for students in the region to have access to “state-of-theart” university programs in their backyard.

The Mon Valley Launchbox through the university relocated to 225 Fifth Ave. in 2023, marking a new chapter in its mission to foster business growth and development, continuing to drive innovation and economic empowerment, serving as a catalyst for transformative change within the Mon Valley community.

The university inspired other partnerships, according to the release, between McKeesport and community development organizations including Age-Friendly Health Systems and the Dallas-based Better Block Foundation.

In 2023, the campus further enhanced its facilities with the addition of the Commuter Lounge within the Student Community Center.

Students at McKeesport campus react

Several students attended a meeting Wednesday at Greater Allegheny’s Student Community Center with Regional Chancellor Megan Nagel, who they said gave them reassurance and answered questions about the possible campus closure.

Pavel Marin, a first-year political science student who was at the meeting, said that while the consolidation is somewhat necessary due to budget cuts to state and federal funding, he does not think Greater Allegheny should be on the list.

He also stated that some professors have called off classes and the chancellor discussed what will happen to Greater Allegheny’s social work program, which is the only Penn State school that offers the program.

“The chancellor was trying to reassure people and make sure our questions were heard and answered, even though there is a lot of uncertainty right now,” Marin said. “I think Greater Allegheny is an interesting campus to put on that list because we are very close to Pittsburgh, we are a very diverse campus, and we have a great athletics program that brings kids across the country that these other campuses don’t.”

Shareef Muhammad, a firstyear electrical engineering student from Maryland, said students asked what they were supposed to do if the school closes and how they could pursue their major at another campus.

“Many people were voicing their opinions on that and also, in addition, how to promote more campus inclusivity for commuters and residents and how they can intermingle more,” he added. “I wanted to be more inclined about the economic status of the campus since I went to Penn State. I really love this campus and I met a lot of fun people here. It would be a shame for it to shut down as soon as you come here. I wanted to see what I could do as a student to advocate and keep the campus running because it’s been really beneficial to my college life and my college experience as a student.”

Muhammad stated that it is also cheaper to go to a branch campus, and gives some students some “breathing room” so they can focus on their major without worrying about the price.

First year biobehavioral health student Ira Campos was also at the meeting, and stated that the Greater Allegheny campus is a diverse community and the fact that the university is threatening to take the community away is “saddening and disheartening.”

Professors even added that the diversity and cost at Greater Allegheny is what gives kids that normally would not have the opportunity to get a Penn State education, to be able to do so, sometimes in their own backyards.

Clifford T. Manlove III, an associate professor of English and communications at Greater Allegheny for 24 years, said a lot of faculty and staff are upset over the lack of transparency, stating that the possible campus closures is the disidentification, ridding the identity or characteristic qualities, of Penn State.

“This has been a long time coming in some ways,” Manlove said. “Her response was very disappointing, full of defensiveness, full of rationalizations. We aren’t a profit center. We are here to deliver a service to people who normally do not have access to that service.”

“The real value we deliver to the system, and Penn State generally, is taking one of these kids that’s a first generation or went to crappy high school or had a total disadvantage economically, and making them suitable to go to University Park,” he added. “They are totally left out of the equation. They are getting screwed. We add value. I feel so betrayed, I feel so disrespected. I’m tenured, and tenure is a lifetime commitment.”

Penelope Morrison, associate professor of biobehavioral health at both the New Kensington and Greater Allegheny campuses, got emotional when talking about the possible closures.

“There are lots and lots of Pennsylvanian citizens that are served by the commonwealth campuses for whom college is otherwise out of reach, and economically depressed communities like McKeesport and New Kensington rely on our campuses for so much more than just the provision of education,” Morrison said. “The communities benefit from having a Penn State campus, economically, and closing those campuses is going to impact more than just the ability of Pennsylvanians to have access to education. It’s also going to impact the economic stability of regions that have been, characteristically for many years, not so great.”

Penn State Media Relations did not answer a request for comment by press time Wednesday.