Brewster wants two-year delay for university mergers

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-McKeesport, is calling for a two-year delay in moving forward with any plan to merge state universities.

Brewster made the request Monday during the Senate Democratic Caucus Policy Committee Hearing on the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The committee held a three-hour Zoom hearing on the PASSHE plan to integrate six state universities into two: California, Clarion and Edinboro universities in the west and Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities in the northeast.

“I don’t see a lot of human interaction, which I view as important,” Brewster said. “There was very little interaction with the staff, very little interaction with the students and very little interaction with the NCAA. There was no interaction with the communities. Those little businesses to a large extent won’t be able to survive.”

Brewster said the college towns are dependent upon students and staff members, and having more students attending virtual classes with fewer staff members on campus means less gas sold, less food bought and less money spent at local businesses in general.

“Consider a two-year set-aside on this to see what President Biden will do. He’s big on free community college and student loan forgiveness,” Brewster said. “I think we’re rushing to a timeline and I don’t know why.”

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