Reverse the April 2022 Cuts at Altoona

May 20, 2022

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Dear President Neeli Bendapudi, Provost Nicholas Jones, Chairman Matthew Schuyler and the Penn State Board of Trustees,

The Penn State chapter of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) appeals to the Penn State University administration to reverse the closure of programs and non-reappointment of twelve faculty at the Altoona campus as announced in April 2022. Program pages on the Altoona campus website for Integrative Arts, Mathematics and Statistics, Science, and Political Science now publicly display the same bleak message: “At this time, Penn State Altoona is not accepting students into this degree program.” The twelve faculty members whose contracts are not renewed have taught indispensable courses in Music, Math, and non-western languages (Arabic, Korean, and Russian), as well as Theatre and Communications.

Penn State cannot afford to cut these programs. Doing so hurts our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Altoona community members. The administration’s decision undermines our mission and vision set forth in our strategic plan to support the Arts and Humanities, advance diversity, global engagement, and sustainability and impedes our adherence to our core ethical values. The administration’s decision also violates shared governance as defined by the AAUP and standards for ethics outlined by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Additionally, these cuts counter the intentions of our donors. We cannot afford to alienate these stakeholders and violate AAUP and Middle States standards if we want to fulfill our mission to serve the welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth. Our AAUP chapter also opposes how these cuts were communicated, without transparent communication to stakeholders. This letter details these faults to show that the cost of these cuts outweighs what financial savings they may promise.

Our AAUP chapter supports the Penn State strategic plan’s commitment to the Arts and Humanities at campuses across the state. Penn State’s strategic plan commits to “Advancing the Arts and Humanities” in our statewide system as one of five thematic priorities. The plan pledges to invest in the Arts and Humanities so that Penn State may serve as a “cultural hub,” a “magnet for faculty and students,” to the “benefit of the entire Commonwealth.” Emphasizing the “benefit of the entire Commonwealth,” the plan recognizes that “Penn State’s campuses serve as prominent cultural venues in Pennsylvania.” Instead of jeopardizing our Arts leadership across the state, the plan commits to strengthening it. Our AAUP chapter supports this pledge. Our AAUP chapter, furthermore, agrees with the strategic plan’s assessment of the Arts and Humanities’ centrality, “in an increasingly diverse world, the arts and humanities play essential roles in preparing educated, empathetic, and globally engaged people who can, in turn, drive improved quality of life, inclusive community growth, and beneficial economic development.” Penn State cannot afford to lose Altoona’s contributions to our statewide leadership in the Arts and Humanities.

These cuts undermine Penn State’s strategic plan for “advancing inclusion, equity, and diversity”. Whereas students enrolled in all of the cut programs (Integrative Arts, Mathematics and Statistics, Science, and Political Science) are scrambling to change majors or relocate to another campus, the cuts disproportionately hurt BIPOC and LGBTQIA students whom performing arts majors and minors attract. At a recent dance-in to save the Arts, students spoke about their opposition to losing transformative experiences in the programs provided. Thus, these cuts are a step backwards for Penn State, just months after we celebrated the third consecutive yearly increase of “growth in diversity” with a “rise in total enrollment of underrepresented students.” These cuts impede Penn State’s ability to recruit and retain BIPOC and LGBTQIA students in the future. In another blow to diversity, the cuts at Altoona eliminate faculty and key courses in three non-European languages –Arabic, Korean, and Russian. Cutting these three World Languages also diminishes Penn State’s capacity to realize the goal of “enhancing global engagement” by offering curriculum and engagement with non-US born scholars.

We question whether these cuts adhere to Penn State's mission and our six core ethical values. Was it with “integrity,” “respect,” “responsibility,” and “community” in mind that the administration made its decisions with regard to Altoona? How can the cuts support “discovery” and “excellence” while removing programs, courses, and faculty students cite as pivotal to their development as human beings?

Furthermore, how can Penn State deliver on our mission to “promote human and economic development” at Altoona while removing opportunities and potential for leadership and economic growth in this Pennsylvania community? Cuts to Altoona’s curriculum irrevocably damage its surrounding community. These cuts threaten small businesses —more specifically, the lives and livelihoods of Altoona alumni who go on to become proprietors of and instructors in dance studios. Losing their connection to Altoona’s programs will make it hard for these businesses to continue operating.

The cuts also counter Penn State’s strategic vision of sustainability by rendering the theater complex obsolete so soon after construction was completed. Penn State’s strategic plan asserts, “Penn State must lead by example and help our students—who are tomorrow’s leaders—to promote sustainability and become advocates for change for the public good.” How does closing a functional and popular venue for the performing arts model sustainability? We oppose these actions because they reflect shamefully on Penn State’s values, mission, and vision.

These cuts demonstrate a poor stewardship of resources. These cuts counter the desired purpose of Tony Misciagna, who made the generous donation of $1 million to expand the performing arts complex 16 years ago. Ten years after Tony Misciagna’s death, the administration has rendered obsolete the performing arts building he expanded with his generous gift. Without faculty, including technical experts to run the lights, the campus's 400-seat Wolf-Kuhn Theatre, part of the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts, will no longer host shows. These cuts counteract the Misciagna family’s generous support, and threaten prospective donors’ trust in Penn State.

Given the financial vitality of Penn State University, our AAUP chapter questions the financial soundness of devastating students and disregarding donors’ wishes. Every year, Penn State generates more revenue than it costs to run, and the university has accumulated an ever-growing, multi-million dollar, unrestricted liquid reserve. Our stellar credit rating from Moody’s Investors Services and S&P Global Ratings attests to our financial vigor and massive reserves. Commenting on Penn State’s financial vigor during the pandemic, Moody’s noted our “superior debt, liquidity and financial performance.” Cutting the arts, languages, and basic liberal arts subjects of math, science, and political science hurts Penn State stakeholders and helps none.

Additionally, the administration has violated AAUP standards for notice of non-reappointment. First, the notice was too abrupt, as AAUP standards for non-reappointment call for the administration to inform faculty “at least twelve months notice before the expiration of an appointment after two or more years in the institution.” With a mere three weeks to go until the end of the semester, without enough notice to apply for full-time academic jobs, the university’s actions put both careers and families into immediate jeopardy. Administrators summoned faculty via email to a meeting the very next morning with the dean and a Human Resources representative. This email did not contain details about the purpose of the meeting. At the meeting, administrators told faculty who had dedicated their lives to building programs and educating students that their contracts would not be renewed for budgetary reasons. The administration has also announced that staff will be cut, but has given no details about who will be cut or when that will happen. Making a bad situation worse, students and colleagues in the closed programs had to learn about the administrations’ plans from the non-renewed faculty themselves.

We write this letter to ask the administration to reverse these harmful, needless cuts. Yet we grieve in solidarity with our Altoona colleagues to see the administration inflict such trauma on a campus and town community—after all, WE ARE Penn State. We are One Faculty and One Student Body. An injury to one is an injury to all. The decision to slash programs and positions and the secretive way administrators chose to communicate these cuts comes at great cost to employee morale across our Penn State system. Across Penn State's campuses we dread what could happen next when our administration sees fit to close down so much, so quickly, without the approval, let alone consultation of faculty, students, staff, and other stakeholders. Slashing these programs also interferes with our recruitment of excellent students, faculty, and staff who value robust, stable programs in the Arts, Math, Science, and Political Science, and World Languages, throughout the state. We deplore these cuts because they devalue our labor and demean us all.

The administration failed to respect faculty’s role in curricular decisions, a cornerstone of shared governance as defined by the AAUP. According to the AAUP, “The decision to discontinue formally a program or department of instruction will be based essentially upon educational considerations, as determined primarily by the faculty.” Curricular changes are the faculty’s primary responsibility. We are therefore dismayed that curricular plans and proposals written in the past several years by Altoona faculty were not acted upon before the administration made drastic cuts. Faculty committees were not convened to advise the administration before it could orchestrate such trauma. Far from enhancing the educational mission of the institution as AAUP standards stipulate, closing the programs undercuts it. Cutting programs and positions without consulting the faculty severely damages the culture of the Altoona campus and its surrounding community. It jeopardizes the good faith of faculty across our university in our administrators.

If the drastic measures taken at Altoona campus are not reversed, Penn State also risks our accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. When so many programs are cut all at once and so many faculty contracts are not renewed, a campus’s curriculum is abruptly narrowed. According to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education's Standard II - Ethics and Integrity, the university must maintain “a climate that fosters respect among students, faculty, staff, and administration from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives.” Further, this same standard stipulates that the university must disclose any such “substantive changes affecting institutional mission, goals, programs, operations, sites, and other material issues...in a timely and accurate fashion.” The administration’s sudden actions have left students and faculty scrambling to adjust. As the university enters a period of Middle States Self-Study next year, we need to assess whether our university climate indeed fosters respect for all of our campus communities. Violating Middle States standards and AAUP principles risks our university’s reputation.

Therefore, we appeal to you to reverse these cuts immediately and restore Altoona faculty contracts and programs. We appeal to you to embrace shared governance in the future by speaking with the faculty when considering such drastic measures interfering with the cultural vitality of a Pennsylvania campus and community. At this time of transition in the leadership of our university, we appeal to you to think again in order to restore trust and good faith across the university. As you review Penn State's operating budget and its reserve, we ask that the new administration adhere to the ethical way and support our university's values and mission to serve the Commonwealth.

When you act to restore Altoona's programs and faculty positions, you thereby move to restore our university community’s faith in the integrity of our institution—to make us proud to affirm, without irony or shame, "We are Penn State."

Thank you for considering these improvements to the stewardship of our university.

Sincerely,

Penn State AAUP (American Association of University Professors)

Michelle Rodino-Colocino, President

Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Vice President