Cal U trustees set vote on merger plan
By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com
The California University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees will meet in a special session Tuesday to vote on a resolution concerning the integration plan that would combine Cal U with Edinboro and Clarion universities.
During its quarterly meeting this week, the board voted unanimously to hold the special meeting to consider the resolution.
The integration plan was given preliminary approval by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors at the end of April, kicking off a mandatory 60-day public comment period. Virtual public hearings will be held on the plan next week, with morning and afternoon sessions Wednesday and Thursday.
Chairman of the Cal U Trustees, James T. Davis, said the trustees have concerns about the plan as individuals and as a body.
“The purpose of the meeting is to articulate those concerns, and the action we take will be based on the answers we get from the chancellor’s office,” Davis said. “This is the time to have them addressed. This is during the public comment period.”
The trustees have no official role in the integration decision, which will be made by the Board of Governors in July.
“We don’t have any say in it at all; we’re just advisory,” said Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi, who serves as a Cal U trustee. “Things have changed so much from when it started out. We aren’t sure what it’s going to look like when it’s all done.”
Maggi said all the state-owned universities have been struggling with enrollment issues, but Cal U ranks fifth among the 14 schools for incoming freshmen for the fall semester.
“We’ve made changes in the past five or six years that have helped financially, and the other two schools are in much worse positions,” Maggi said, referring to Clarion and Edinboro.
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