The campuses were built to serve a Pennsylvania that looked very different than it does today, during the Great Depression before demographic declines and modern transportation, Bendapudi said.
Closing the campuses will allow Penn State to be “more strategic and more forward-looking” in the school’s land-grant mission, Bendapudi said.
Opponents warned that the vote was premature, that affected communities hadn’t been adequately consulted and that the trustees were acting without complete information on the most important vote they’ll make as trustees.
“It will be the most impactful vote we will ever make on this board. It will impact this university long beyond our years,” trustee Anthony Lubrano said during the meeting. Lubrano voted against it.
Criticism also has poured in from state lawmakers who represent areas that are home to a closing campus and who vote annually to send hundreds of millions of dollars to Penn State to subsidize tuition for in-state students.
Trustee Matthew McGloin — a former Penn State quarterback — told fellow trustees that he struggled with the decision, but decided to vote for it because it provided a responsible path forward for the greater good of the Penn State system.
Bendapudi announced in February that an internal team would study which campuses to close and make a recommendation to the board.
Bendapudi has said Penn State tried to save the campuses, but enrollments are declining at most branch campuses and their surrounding populations are projected to continue declining.
Historically, the smaller campuses draw most of their students from their local area, and it’s not realistic to recruit from elsewhere to buttress those enrollments, Bendapudi said.