The president of the faculty union at the State System of Higher Education yesterday praised the students at the state-owned universities for their resilience, but warned the Board of Governors the ongoing pandemic and the failure to control the cost of an education is a continuing struggle for them.
Speaking at the board’s quarterly meeting, Dr. Jamie Martin said union chapter presidents are expressing concerns about students’ feelings of isolation, problems with technology, and the “digital divide between students who can and cannot afford to purchase computers and to have access to reliable connectivity.” Martin said students don’t have proper social distancing, are in classes that are over-enrolled, and are having difficulties scheduling courses. She added that tuition, fees, and books are too costly, and all fourteen campuses have food pantries to feed hungry students afflicted by food insecurity.
Chancellor Dan Greenstein told the Board of Governors that the State System Redesign remains on schedule, but said there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done in order to fully implement the plan by this fall. The key aspect of the Redesign is the integration of six universities into two.
Greenstein talked about the need to reverse the continued decline in enrollment, saying that the State System schools need to get to about 110,000 students in order to meet the workforce demands of employers in Pennsylvania.
The chancellor said around 60 percent of the jobs available in Pennsylvania require some post-secondary education, but only about 51 percent of adults in the state have that level of education. Greenstein said the emphasis needs to be on recruiting students in our own backyard, particularly the specific regions in which universities are located.
