After putting off the projects at their November meeting, the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to approve three capital projects on branch campuses Tuesday.
Holding a special meeting via teleconference, the trustees held a lengthy discussion before voting 22-13 in favor of the projects, which include a residence hall and student union at Penn State Brandywine, and a student apartment building at Penn State Abington.
The costly projects total $101.7 million, an expense that the trustees deemed necessary due to the increased demand for housing at those two campuses.
“Two independent studies done by external consultants have confirmed that a market for on-campus living exists at both of these locations,” the resolution said.
The eventual approval of the resolutions was preceded by heavy debate on a proposed amendment by governor-appointed trustee Elliot Weinstein. His amendment to the motion on the floor asked that the administration be required to explore public-private partnership for all non-academic capital projects going forward. The amendment also asked that the administration come to the board with a plan for a three-year moratorium on housing/room and board costs.
While the trustees seemed to generally agree with the gist of his motion — stating that they would like to avoid any increase in costs for students and would like to explore such public-private partnerships — many urged that their fellow trustees trust the administration.
Trustee Rick Dandrea, for one, argued that the moratorium shouldn’t be a predetermined conclusion that is forced on the administration before it even has a chance to review what cuts would need to be made to reach that goal. Trustee Al Lord disagreed, stating that the administration has already promised to look into the moratorium and that Weinstein’s motion simply puts that in writing.
“Trustee Weinstein put forward a motion that frankly is asking management to tell us what it would have to do to hold costs — to freeze costs for three years,” Lord said. “I have to say they are going to have to change their processes just like our other schools are going to have to do if it intends to actually control costs.”
Weinstein’s motion eventually failed 21-14, before the board voted 22-13 in favor of the original resolutions, funding the two branch campus housing projects.
