The committee that Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi charged with making a recommendation about which commonwealth campuses should close released more details about the factors they would use to make the recommendations in a letter to the community .
Bendapudi announced last month that they were considering closing 12 of its 19 commonwealth campuses , although how many of those 12, and which ones, had not been determined. The seven largest commonwealth campuses — Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and Lehigh Valley, as well as the graduate education-focused campus at Great Valley — will remain open and Penn State will continue to invest in them, Bendapudi said.
The proposal has drawn criticism statewide from students, faculty and even some state lawmakers. At least two petitions have been started to fight the closures, including at Penn State Fayette and Penn State DuBois . State Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa, R-Fayette County, said she plans to introduce a package of bills that would, in part, include legislation that states publicly-funded universities can’t close campuses without legislative oversight and public input…