With the Board of Governors set to hold a special meeting tomorrow, the State System of Higher Education yesterday posted a 234-page consolidation plan that would merge three state-owned schools in the west and three in the east into two entities.
Separated into two sections, one called the “Northeast” plan and the other called the “West” plan, the document calls for the merging of Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield in the east and California, Clarion, and Edinboro in the west. The two new entities would get new names and keeps the athletic teams at each university intact.
The report reflects what the State System hopes will be a 25 percent reduction in the cost for a student to graduate, which would combine with expanded course offerings at the merged schools to turn around enrollment declines.
Tomorrow’s meeting will be available for the public at the state system website, www.passhe.edu. If approved, the consolidation plan would be subject to a 60-day public comment period.
APSCUF, the faculty union at the State System, has yet to publicly comment on the report, other than to say that it is “reading the plan carefully”. The union is planning a Wednesday afternoon virtual rally and news conference.
The Senate Appropriations and Education committees will hold a joint hearing on the plan on Thursday.
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