One of Indiana County’s state legislators issued a reaction to the State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors vote to consolidate six universities into two groups.
The vote made Wednesday by the board will combine California, Clarion and Edinboro universities into one western entity and Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield will form a second group in the north east part of the state. Universities in both clusters would maintain their individual identities and athletic teams, with the universities reporting to a single president and top administrators for each cluster. While IUP will not be integrated, Senator Joe Pittman said the plan will affect IUP in a positive way.
Pittman added that he wasn’t surprised that the vote passed unanimously.
Pittman has been a supporter of the idea, and called the decision made by the board of Governors “difficult, but necessary” in a statement. He added that the system-wide decline in enrollment has created the need for decisions on how best to maintain quality education at an affordable price. He also mentioned the recent state budget, which allocated $50 million to support the redesign effort, and he said it would be used to “quickly facilitiate this transition.”
The consolidation is part of the State System’s redesign plan that would start with the Fall 2022 semester.
