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Pennsylvania State University will close seven of its 19 Commonwealth Campuses over a two-year timeline following a contentious Thursday night vote by the Board of Trustees.
Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi floated the plan in February, announcing at the time that the university would review 12 campuses amid enrollment challenges and financial pressures.
That plan became a reality Thursday as Penn State trustees voted 25 to 8 to close rural campuses in Dubois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York. (Three members appointed by the governor abstained from voting, citing a conflict of interest.)
“We are subsidizing decline at the expense of growth,” Bendapudi told the governing board Thursday ahead of the vote, arguing that “maintaining the status quo is not sustainable.”
Bendapudi argued that closing the campuses by the end of the spring 2027 semester would minimize harm to students. She also said faculty contracts and tenure would be honored.
Those campuses enroll almost 3,200 students collectively and have faced years of enrollment declines. Despite the bleak enrollment and financial picture, many trustees urged the board to slow down the move, arguing that leadership had not attempted to find an alternative to closing campuses.
Nicholas Rowland, a professor of sociology at Penn State Altoona and the faculty representative on the board, argued that the university owed those campuses “more than closure.” He said the move was more than a mere fiduciary decision, and that by closing rural campuses, the university was making “a statement about who we choose to serve and who we’re going to leave behind.”
Trustee Barry Fenchak questioned whether the closures will harm appropriation requests, arguing Penn State is asking for more money while “cutting loose” numerous in-state students.
But trustees in the majority position argued that the university needed to take action, noting the difficult headwinds battering higher education and the oversaturation of institutions in the Keystone State even as demographics across Pennsylvania pose recruiting challenges.
"While this decision was not easy or unanimous, I strongly believe the final direction we have taken is in the best interest of Penn State and the commonwealth,” board chair David Kleppinger said in a Thursday statement issued after trustees approved the campus closure proposal.
The move has faced resistance from lawmakers—concerns about losing rural campuses in their districts—faculty members, alumni and the public, who accused Penn State of failing to be transparent about closures.
“Transparency has not been demonstrated in this process and will cloud the decision-making process, in addition to the legacy of the hard work dedicated employees, faculty and staff, have committed to this institution and its students,” Amy Rustic, a librarian at Penn State New Kensington, wrote in a public comment submitted before Thursday’s board meeting. “Please pause the process to allow for a real research and investigative process to take place with all stakeholders involved, not just a closed-door, hidden process that can obscure the factual information.”
Former board members have also questioned the process, which included a virtual meeting held entirely in executive session last week. Ben Novak, who served on the board from 1988 to 2000, accused the administration and board of acting with “incompetence, arrogance and downright contempt” and argued in a recent op-ed that the board had violated state open meetings laws.
