PASSHE Institutions Merging

[complaint_hopeful]

Driscoll and every other president is staring down a sh*t sandwich right now. The only way for meaningful cuts is to cut jobs. There's not one alternative cut he could make that wouldn't result in hurt feelings and outrage.

As for presidents, he's about as good as they'll get anymore. I've been on the official committee to hire a PASSHE president and it was a total waste of time, energy, and emotion. It doesn't matter what the clear obvious needs of a campus are, the faculty union has the most power at curating the finalists and they promote the antiquated view that a president must come from the academic house. I had a sitting president of a PA school, an Edinboro alumni, tell me he was passed over for even a first round interview for the Edinboro presidency. The system has a reputation for labor strife and bureaucratic lethargy. Plus low pay (for the industry) and limited independence. You're going to get first time presidents using it as an internship for better jobs and those who are there for a reason.

Nice post. It's indeed a bad situation and I fear schools lose students in the Integration.

They waited way too long to address many fundamental issues and now need drastic steps.

[complaint_hopeful]

Here it is. She makes some good points and if it's true it's unacceptable.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/...2ad2cbc39.html

I've never seen Driscoll as very good for IUP. If you think of the illustrious leaders IUP has had as President in the past, he isn't that.

Starting with Willis Pratt, Hassler ('69-'75), Wilburn (went on to incredible heights in his career), Worthen (Worthen Arena at Ball State), Welty (long-time Prez of Fresno State after IUP), these guys had vision. I feel like Driscoll is just a placeholder (for the past 10 years). I'd like to see somebody Make IUP Great Again. Driscoll has always been a good citizen of the PASSHE.

I would say the lack of communication is in general accurate. Schools seem to like to talk about the good stuff, but anything perceived as negative...leave out. And then it gets worse as rumors leak. And people think stuff is being hidden.

[complaint_hopeful]

Yea. Seems like the big plan to save the PASSHE boils down to "shared services" (which schools were allegedly doing already), staff cuts and eliminating some underutalized majors. That and "spread the pain" among two groupings of three schools.

Seems like this whole effort was a deflection...Focus on 6 schools while ignoring the other schools in the system most of whom are also having budget and enrolment problems.

At the end of the day the whole process is more about buying time and hoping that enrollment improves than truly fixing the problems.

Well said. The time frame doesn't seem realistic either. Like many many many things need done and the go live of Aug 22 is sooner because they start enrolling students before.

As far as cut, I don't know where those will be other than exec leadership. These schools have been not refilling positions for years now. They're staffed lean as is.

I think I saw a slide that the West has a projected budget shortfall of like $20 million. I don't see how shared services will save that much. Plus, Integration has costs. High costs..

Seems to be a lot of PASSHE spending on consultant's too. Not saying that's bad, but they've also brought in some high level employees.

In the BOG presentation, I saw a slide that showed some $50+ million savings from Shared services, cost avoidance, and a couple other things. Not saying they're not accurate, but I'd love to see the calculations to understand them better.

At the end of the day, you can only cut so far. Enrollment has to either stabilize or grow.

And as far as cuts...athletic not touched. Seems like schools will all have libraries and student centers and Housing and gyms...so no cuts there. The campuses exist, so you need facilities, police, and support personnel. You'll need some in person Admissions, Fin Aid, etc. The way this is being done, I just done see where they can do cuts. Maybe some professors? Maybe a few Accountants? HR?

The Integrations seem to be mainly wildly optimistic pr. I do hope it works, but I'm skeptical.

[IUPNation]

Here it is. She makes some good points and if it's true it's unacceptable.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/...2ad2cbc39.html

I've never seen Driscoll as very good for IUP. If you think of the illustrious leaders IUP has had as President in the past, he isn't that.

Starting with Willis Pratt, Hassler ('69-'75), Wilburn (went on to incredible heights in his career), Worthen (Worthen Arena at Ball State), Welty (long-time Prez of Fresno State after IUP), these guys had vision. I feel like Driscoll is just a placeholder (for the past 10 years). I'd like to see somebody Make IUP Great Again. Driscoll has always been a good citizen of the PASSHE.

Those guys had state money to play with....and IUP and a more prominent status in Harrisburg.

[boatcapt]

I think we're going to have problems anyways. This doesn't feel like a drastic reimagination of higher education. It feels like taking 3 schools as is and minimally integrating them with very limited changes.

There are large initial Integration costs. I just don't see where the drastic cost savings will come from, or how amount of students will drastically increase.

The time frame also doesn't seem realistic with all that needs done.

I mean I hope this works, but I'm skeptical.

Yea. Seems like the big plan to save the PASSHE boils down to "shared services" (which schools were allegedly doing already), staff cuts and eliminating some underutalized majors. That and "spread the pain" among two groupings of three schools.

Seems like this whole effort was a deflection...Focus on 6 schools while ignoring the other schools in the system most of whom are also having budget and enrolment problems.

At the end of the day the whole process is more about buying time and hoping that enrollment improves than truly fixing the problems.

[Fightingscot82]

Driscoll and every other president is staring down a sh*t sandwich right now. The only way for meaningful cuts is to cut jobs. There's not one alternative cut he could make that wouldn't result in hurt feelings and outrage.

As for presidents, he's about as good as they'll get anymore. I've been on the official committee to hire a PASSHE president and it was a total waste of time, energy, and emotion. It doesn't matter what the clear obvious needs of a campus are, the faculty union has the most power at curating the finalists and they promote the antiquated view that a president must come from the academic house. I had a sitting president of a PA school, an Edinboro alumni, tell me he was passed over for even a first round interview for the Edinboro presidency. The system has a reputation for labor strife and bureaucratic lethargy. Plus low pay (for the industry) and limited independence. You're going to get first time presidents using it as an internship for better jobs and those who are there for a reason.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Here it is. She makes some good points and if it's true it's unacceptable.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/...2ad2cbc39.html

I've never seen Driscoll as very good for IUP. If you think of the illustrious leaders IUP has had as President in the past, he isn't that.

Starting with Willis Pratt, Hassler ('69-'75), Wilburn (went on to incredible heights in his career), Worthen (Worthen Arena at Ball State), Welty (long-time Prez of Fresno State after IUP), these guys had vision. I feel like Driscoll is just a placeholder (for the past 10 years). I'd like to see somebody Make IUP Great Again. Driscoll has always been a good citizen of the PASSHE.

He's sports friendly. That's about all I can say about him. Other than that, he's played the role of Titanic Captain.

[iupgroundhog]

Off direct topic but scathing article in Gazette today over the IUP Journalism dept.

Here it is. She makes some good points and if it's true it's unacceptable.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/...2ad2cbc39.html

I've never seen Driscoll as very good for IUP. If you think of the illustrious leaders IUP has had as President in the past, he isn't that.

Starting with Willis Pratt, Hassler ('69-'75), Wilburn (went on to incredible heights in his career), Worthen (Worthen Arena at Ball State), Welty (long-time Prez of Fresno State after IUP), these guys had vision. I feel like Driscoll is just a placeholder (for the past 10 years). I'd like to see somebody Make IUP Great Again. Driscoll has always been a good citizen of the PASSHE.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Off direct topic but scathing article in Gazette today over the IUP Journalism dept.

[Fightingscot82]

I think we're going to have problems anyways. This doesn't feel like a drastic reimagination of higher education. It feels like taking 3 schools as is and minimally integrating them with very limited changes.

There are large initial Integration costs. I just don't see where the drastic cost savings will come from, or how amount of students will drastically increase.

The time frame also doesn't seem realistic with all that needs done.

I mean I hope this works, but I'm skeptical.

Agreed. Someone is going to have to be in charge at each campus. I bet that if finances can rebound this plan is ditched.

[complaint_hopeful]

And that decision has got to be in the affirmative or we're going to have problems.

I think we're going to have problems anyways. This doesn't feel like a drastic reimagination of higher education. It feels like taking 3 schools as is and minimally integrating them with very limited changes.

There are large initial Integration costs. I just don't see where the drastic cost savings will come from, or how amount of students will drastically increase.

The time frame also doesn't seem realistic with all that needs done.

I mean I hope this works, but I'm skeptical.

[complaint_hopeful]

[iupgroundhog]

Hanna said the NCAA decision on all integrated schools maintaining independent athletics programs could come as early as next week. That's an important decision.

https://www.inquirer.com/education/s...-20210204.html

And that decision has got to be in the affirmative or we're going to have problems.

[iupgroundhog]

Hanna said the NCAA decision on all integrated schools maintaining independent athletics programs could come as early as next week. That's an important decision.

https://www.inquirer.com/education/s...-20210204.html

[Bart]

Bloom president is now also the interim president of Lock Haven.

https://bunow.com/board-of-governors...rim-president/