Penn State University is in crisis — and it’s time for real oversight and accountability. We are calling on Governor Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to intervene and bring much-needed reform to a university that has lost its way.

Within the last year, Penn State has announced plans to close 7 branch campuses across the Commonwealth, affecting thousands of students, faculty, and staff. These campuses are not just educational institutions — they are economic lifelines for their local communities.

At the same time, the university continues to waste taxpayer dollars at an alarming rate, leading to tuition increases, payouts to employees to leave, and cutting programs across multiple colleges.

Despite these financial troubles, the Board of Trustees approved a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium — with key deliberations held behind closed doors. When one trustee with financial expertise raised tough questions about the project, he was voted off the board by other trustees.

The Penn State Board of Trustees is bloated and dysfunctional, with 36 members — far more than the typical 12–16 seen at most universities — and a long track record of secrecy and excessive spending. Penn State has only acted transparently when forced to by lawsuits.

This year has made those patterns even more clear:

The Board holds last-minute meetings with minimal notice and few details, providing no real opportunity for public input or scrutiny.

The university also announced the closure of WPSU, its long-running NPR/PBS affiliate — effectively silencing an independent media outlet. Hundreds of thousands of households across central PA will be affected. 

Meanwhile, Penn State continues to raise tuition, keeping it among the most expensive public universities in the country. 

And despite all this, the university is asking the state for a $49 million increase in public funding, bringing its total request to over $400 million — all while university leadership continues to enjoy generous perks.

Most shockingly, the Board of Trustees recently voted nearly unanimously to give Penn State’s president a $1 million raise, pushing her compensation to nearly $3 million per year, in addition to a free mansion on campus, university vehicles, and access to private planes — all at a time when the university claims it can’t afford to operate basic educational services.

Penn State operates in a legal gray area as a "state-related" university — not fully public, not fully private. When it comes to asking for money, it claims to be public. But when taxpayers ask for accountability, the university claims it’s not.

This lack of oversight is exactly what enabled past scandals — like Jerry Sandusky’s — to go unchecked for years. This is the Penn State bubble, and it must be burst.

We, the undersigned, are calling for:

A full investigation into Penn State’s finances and governance
Legislative oversight of the Board of Trustees
Greater transparency and accountability for the use of public funds
A reevaluation of the university’s “state-related” status

It’s time to clean house — from the Board of Trustees to the university’s highest levels of leadership. This is not a political issue. It's an issue of competency, or the lack thereof. 

Only Governor Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Legislature can bring the change Penn State so desperately needs.

Add your name. Demand action. The future of public higher education in Pennsylvania depends on it.