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PSU should be transparent in budget woes

Imagine what people of Johnstown would be thinking and feeling if the University of Pittsburgh were to arouse speculation that some of its branch campuses might be targeted for possible closing — and If the university were remaining tight-lipped about which campuses were in danger of being shuttered.

It is reasonable to believe that community and businesses leaders would be mobilizing to meet with university leaders to try to ascertain as much information as possible about what was being considered.

In addition, those community and business leaders certainly would be planning to ask questions about what possible timetable university officials had in mind for deciding on specific changes wherever and, finally, about whether the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown was among campuses whose future now was uncertain.

Beyond that, what other kinds of changes were being planned for the university system, including course offerings, and could those changes have implications for the Johnstown campus?

Realistically, it is hard to imagine UPJ being targeted for closure, just as it seems unimaginable that officials at the Pennsylvania State University would target Penn State’s Altoona campus, considering its vibrancy and consistently strong enrollment.

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that anything is possible — including counterproductive decisions — when eradicating serious budget deficits is the issue at hand.

And judging from information filtering from State College, financial deficits of serious proportion are challenging Penn State and its commonwealth campuses — deficits that must be addressed before they become much more challenging and threatening.

“Faculty fear PSU campus closures” was the headline over a Spotlight PA article published in the Mirror’s Jan. 27 edition. What was immediately more troubling than the news that headline delivered was the disclosure in the article’s first paragraph that “Penn State leaders won’t give a straight answer” about what they’re considering.

Thus, the entire Penn State community that includes Altoona needs to watch developments carefully and be prepared to respond favorably or unfavorably to whatever is presented.

“Shuttering locations would impact the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of Pennsylvanians,” the Jan. 27 article said.

Only a university’s base of operations is capable fully of divulging the actual financial impact that a campus injects into its local economy. In no instance is that number small.

Penn State’s commonwealth campuses employ more than 5,100 people across the state.

“The university plans to cut an additional $54 million from the statewide system starting in July,” the article states, according to the university’s budget projection. It is reasonable to conclude that PSU’s Altoona campus will feel at least a small negative impact from that goal and that, whatever the negative impact, will “trickle down” to the Altoona area economy.

“I’m begging you, please be clear with us,” Penn State Brandywine professor Julie Gallagher pleaded before university officials at a meeting of the Penn State Faculty Senate last month.

“We cannot live with this level of low morale,” she said later.

However, a company cannot remain in operation if sales take a deep plunge and other aspects of the business deteriorate. A place of higher learning cannot survive if there is a big decline in enrollment and other factors undermining it.

A Penn State spokesperson told Spotlight PA that what university officials are studying is a “complex undertaking with many variables, voices and perspectives.”

Nevertheless, along the way, university officials need to be more transparent than they’ve been so far.

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