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Closure of Commonwealth Campuses News Article Released

     On the 5/12/25 article in the Inquirer, it stated that Penn State’s administration has proposed closing 7 Commonwealth campuses: Dubois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York. The University has not officially announced anything yet. This release is simply terrible news. In addition, we have read Sara Thorndike’s email about this release.

      We have been working, talking to political leaders, writing letters, and attending meetings about these potential closings, advocating against them, and asking the politicians to make the university more transparent. Two trustees wrote that Penn State loses $40-$50 million a year operating 20 commonwealth campuses. That equates to 0.4% of its $10 billion budget. It seems to us this is a small price to pay to invest in their students and employees.  It is sad to see that the university looks at a $700 million stadium as an investment in student education, instead of taking this $700 million to truly invest in student education by finding a solution to commonwealth campuses or even helping by lowering the cost of tuition. They are willing to spend whatever it takes to win national championships, but not willing to spend money to educate students or save jobs. All that matters to senior leadership is the bottom line. Once we hear the official announcement, we will continue to work on saving the Commonwealth campuses and helping our members at these locations. Please call your local politicians and ask them to support students and employees at these campuses; tell Penn State to find another solution and not close campuses. -President Jon Light

PSU Commonwealth Campus Announcement

As you may have read today, 2/25/25, PSU announced its plan to do a study of closing some Commonwealth Campuses. Although we have been requesting information about this, as many rumors have been circulating- PSU had failed to provide us with any information until a phone call was made to Jon Light right after the release of this news article. I know our members have many questions. We do, as well. We will continue to press for the information and provide any updates we can as promptly as possible.

We will work diligently to ensure our contract is applied, and our members are protected.

Here is a link to the article: https://www.psu.edu/news/administration/story/message-president-bendapudi-commonwealth-campuses

An update on factors informing the Commonwealth Campuses recommendation | Penn State University