by Philip Wubbolt

Legislation in the Pennsylvania legislature will allow several Pennsylvania public colleges to pull out of the 14 university system of higher education.  Supporters of the bill say it would strengthen the state system by allowing its best universities to leave while those who oppose it say it would hurt the system because it would result in increased tution and weakened faculty unions.  Many trustees and lawmakers are pushing for this bill to be approved.  The bill would allow PASSHE’s best off institutions, those with over 7,000 students and good financials, to become “state-related” versus “state-owned”.  The epicenter for support is West Chester University.

The sheer fact that this kinds of rash actions are on the minds of lawmakers and trustees shows the failures of the state-school system as a whole.  The belief is that leaders at privatized universities will be able to run a higher education system better than the government.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/21/universities-want-out-pennsylvanias-higher-ed-system