The leader of the State System of Higher Education is expanding more on the decision to merge six universities in Pennsylvania.
Dan Greenstein is the chancellor of PASSHE and he says closing these schools would have had too many negative consequences.
“Communities rely on these universities to grow their next generation of talents,” Greenstein said. “It would absolutely devastating to the communities in question.”
Greenstein spoke with members of the Pennsylvania Press Club, which asked him why students will go to a merged university instead of one of the other eight schools—like Slippery Rock.
“The reasons the students tell me their excited is because of the breadth of programming they have and they recognize that universities are going through a wholesale transformation which allows them to fundamentally retool and improve the whole range of activities that happen on campus,” Greenstein said.
California, Clarion, and Edinboro will now be known as Western Pennsylvania University.
