PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Bart]

That's the story below - and its probably going to be similar across the board for PASSHE. The state issued guidance that they can't require students to be vaccinated and thus will require masks in common/group settings on campus. That legal guidance is odd considering that IUP requires meningitis vaccinations for any student living on campus (a waiver is available) https://www.iup.edu/healthservice/ho...eningitis-law/

Bloom is offering 12 scholarships through a lottery system for those vaccinated.

https://www.dailyitem.com/coronaviru...b89eb84a5.html

[GregD]

This is becoming a nightmare. Is there anything else the System schools can do to tell students to go elsewhere?

[Fightingscot82]

This is becoming a nightmare. Is there anything else the System schools can do to tell students to go elsewhere?

Cut sports.

[GregD]

Don't say that too often. They might take you up on it.

My guess is that I may be the senior member on this board, which offers me the perspective of too many decades of witnessing gross incompetence directing the System.
Thank God athletics largely stayed above the level the System could have dragged it into.
This and some excellent (some not all) instructors in various departments were highlights but administrative incompetence overwhelmed them and I fear it still is in control.

[complaint_hopeful]

A big part of the problem is PASSHE, despite a very highly paid leadership team...doesn't tell these schools what to do. Why not standardize mask wearing? To not wear masks. Why does PASSHE need VPs of a bunch of areas if they aren't going to give guidance? That's such a huge waste of resources. And some of these people make over $200k. Yet Greenstein threatens to dissolve PASSHE...if Integration is voted down.

It's like this for a lot of things. They let each campus do what they want.

And they can claim a victory for the purchasing shared service, but it's been a rough transition. And campuses have had to have other employees start to do some purchasing tasks as passhe doesn't do everything that was done before.

As far as cutting sports...I think the initial take going into the Integration was to do that. Then, they saw that they actually made tuition dollars from it. So they shifted.

[Fightingscot82]

I'm not bothered by how much they make. That's in line with what VPs are paid. They also don't get the perks of the president. If you don't pay market salary, you get bad candidates and/or you have frequent turnover.

I agree that there should have been consistent policy across the system. IUP should also have provided more information to justify their decision. The state says they can't mandate immunization. Fine, but say that. If immunization rates of students and the community are lower than anticipated, say that too. Nothing is secret at these schools so they might as well just give all the information up front.

[ironmaniup]

That's the story below - and its probably going to be similar across the board for PASSHE. The state issued guidance that they can't require students to be vaccinated and thus will require masks in common/group settings on campus. That legal guidance is odd considering that IUP requires meningitis vaccinations for any student living on campus (a waiver is available) https://www.iup.edu/healthservice/ho...eningitis-law/

The meningitis vaccine requirement is a state law. Covid requirements that are not state law cannot be enforced. They can't even ban carrying guns on campus if you are legally entitled.

At the same time, I'm not sure it will have any real impact on enrollment. Most College age students are not vaccinated, many already had covid, and with the WHO recommending that 18 yr olds not get vaccinated because of an emerging risk of myocarditis, I'm not sure a requirement is something the majority of students and parents would like.

[complaint_hopeful]

I'm not bothered by how much they make. That's in line with what VPs are paid. They also don't get the perks of the president. If you don't pay market salary, you get bad candidates and/or you have frequent turnover.

I agree that there should have been consistent policy across the system. IUP should also have provided more information to justify their decision. The state says they can't mandate immunization. Fine, but say that. If immunization rates of students and the community are lower than anticipated, say that too. Nothing is secret at these schools so they might as well just give all the information up front.

What bothers me about the salary...is they are VP positions duplicated at PASSHE who has no students. Then, these people basically get to cherry pick what they work on and let schools make dumb decisions and do their own thing. Then, when the dumb decision is called out...pr says that schools make their own decisions.

Then, why have a VP of <insert name> at PASSHE if the campus VP and President make the decisions?

And ultimately the schools get charged back for these people. If they provided value, it would be a different story.

[complaint_hopeful]

The meningitis vaccine requirement is a state law. Covid requirements that are not state law cannot be enforced. They can't even ban carrying guns on campus if you are legally entitled.

At the same time, I'm not sure it will have any real impact on enrollment. Most College age students are not vaccinated, many already had covid, and with the WHO recommending that 18 yr olds not get vaccinated because of an emerging risk of myocarditis, I'm not sure a requirement is something the majority of students and parents would like.

The being forced to wear masks is the part that might cost students.

I don't get it. So if I'm vaccinated, and the student next to me isnt...why do either of us need masks? I'm protected from them. They're protected from me...but not other unvaccinated people. Same as going to Walmart or any other place.

Now if a bad variant comes out, this might all change.

[Fightingscot82]

What bothers me about the salary...is they are VP positions duplicated at PASSHE who has no students. Then, these people basically get to cherry pick what they work on and let schools make dumb decisions and do their own thing. Then, when the dumb decision is called out...pr says that schools make their own decisions.

Then, why have a VP of <insert name> at PASSHE if the campus VP and President make the decisions?

And ultimately the schools get charged back for these people. If they provided value, it would be a different story.

The VPs at the campus level manage divisions of the individual university. Management structure is functional similar to the military. Title/rank changes in the management/staff part of higher ed isn't earned without a vacancy. The Vice Chancellors at the PASSHE level manage system-wide initiatives. They don't dictate policy. The system is not very systemic (something Greenstein actually talked about when he arrived) like SUNY. Most of the PASSHE managers are report makers and number crunchers. The only ones that seem to truly dictate policy (indirectly) are the in house attorneys. Given the lack of innovation & uniformity throughout the industry, there are a lot of people who don't know much about how their counterparts do the same job.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The being forced to wear masks is the part that might cost students.

I don't get it. So if I'm vaccinated, and the student next to me isnt...why do either of us need masks? I'm protected from them. They're protected from me...but not other unvaccinated people. Same as going to Walmart or any other place.

Now if a bad variant comes out, this might all change.

Are they required to wear them in the campus-owned dorms, too?

There won't be a mask seen in town other than those classrooms so what's the freaking point?

[Fightingscot82]

Are they required to wear them in the campus-owned dorms, too?

There won't be a mask seen in town other than those classrooms so what's the freaking point?

I bet they'll be required for indoor common spaces similar to what we had until this month. But enforcement is something I don't get. If campus being public land means state law leads policy (for example you can carry outdoors on PASSHE campuses) then I don't see how they can enforce or even enact this policy. I think its 100% reasonable to require students living in the dorms to have the vaccine or complete a waiver just like they do for meningitis. College students live, learn, and socialize in groups and this is a communicable virus.

However, this article's author does have a reputation for unintentionally making a mountain out of a molehill. He's the only full-time higher ed beat reporter on this side of the state. His daughter attends Edinboro. He sometimes has to go finding stories to write and PASSHE can't block him from getting info (the unions blab & 99% of operations are subject to FOIA). Its possible that someone at IUP tipped him off to this issue (when probed IUP says nothing is final) and he ran with it.

[complaint_hopeful]

I would imagine that indoors on campus would cover housing. Now, in a room yourself...people likely won't wear them.

But yes...anywhere they go won't require masks...except on campus indoors. Seems pointless.

It's time to put the pandemic in the rear view mirror...and not try to cling to it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I would imagine that indoors on campus would cover housing. Now, in a room yourself...people likely won't wear them.

But yes...anywhere they go won't require masks...except on campus indoors. Seems pointless.

It's time to put the pandemic in the rear view mirror...and not try to cling to it.

I can already see it now at Miller Stadium ... every 6th seat and a mask requirement.

[ironmaniup]

Are they required to wear them in the campus-owned dorms, too?

There won't be a mask seen in town other than those classrooms so what's the freaking point?

to ease certain people's fears, I guess. My gut feeling is that there are a small but vocal group of Faculty and parents expressing their fear for the upcoming Fall semester, I expect it to change since if the state mandates are over at that point, it will be pointless after the first weekend, and difficult to enforce. I doubt it will have much impact on enrollment one way or another.