In a startling exchange yesterday between Senator Joe Pittman and State System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Greenstein, the chancellor admitted that if measures to gain control of the soaring deficits at the 14 state-owned universities don’t work, he will recommend next year that the System be dissolved.
During the Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing, Pittman said he is frustrated that IUP is paying a “terrible price in terms of retrenchment and clerical retirement and other layoffs” because it is being forced to subsidize weaker universities.
Greenstein agreed that it was “a fair characterization,” prompting Pittman to question the value of IUP remaining in the State System. That’s when Greenstein dropped his bombshell.
Pittman told Greenstein that IUP, its students, staff, and faculty were bearing an overly onerous financial burden to keep the State System solvent.
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