passhe - Forum/Discussions - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T13:06:27Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/feed/tag/passheHistoric Cheyney University Needs Helphttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/historic-cheyney-university-needs-help2024-02-12T16:04:48.000Z2024-02-12T16:04:48.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Cheyney University Needs Help!</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;">Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12309947094,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12309947094,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="248" alt="12309947094?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></p><p> </p><p>Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, a member of the state owned <strong>Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education</strong> is the oldest institution of higher learning for people of African descent in the United States. It’s origins date back to 1829 with the Last Will and Testament of Richard Humphreys a white man who was born on February 13, 1750 on the British Colonial Island of Tortola in the West Indies.</p><p>Slavery was deeply rooted in Tortola, it was the engine that drove the colonial island’s agrarian economy. Humphreys father who raised sugar and cotton owned slaves. Humphreys’ parents died when he was a young boy but his father’s will provided for Richard and his older brother Thomas to be apprenticed in America; Richard as a gold and silversmith and Thomas as a tanner working in animal hides.</p><p>In America Richard eventually became a successful silversmith operating a shop at 54 High Street in Philadelphia. Humphreys was also an upstanding member of The Religious Society of Friends also known as Quakers. The Quakers were renowned for valuing education, thrift, hard work and piety. While living in Philadelphia Humphreys became keenly aware of the horrid conditions of Blacks and provided in his will for the establishment of an institution that would, “.. having for its object the benevolent design of instructing the descendants of the African Race in school learning, in the various branches of mechanik arts, and trades and in Agriculture: in order to prepare and fit and qualify them to act as teachers in such of those branches of useful business as in the Judgment of said society they may appear best qualified for...”</p><p>Humphreys bequeathed $10,000,one tenth of his total estate, to fund that institution. Richard Humphreys died on February 5, 1832. The thirteen trustees he named in his will, all fellow members of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends accepted the challenge to execute Humphreys’ wishes. During their planning it was first named <strong>The African Institute </strong>but was later changed to the<strong> Institute of Colored Youth.</strong></p><p>ICY was not founded or chartered as a college. It didn’t have to be considering the lofty standards the Quakers set for all their educational institutions. Plus ICY was created to also teach mechanical arts, trades and agriculture. ICY became a forerunner of American land grant colleges and universities by several decades.</p><p>The Quakers (actually the Humphreys Foundation) administered ICY which later changed the name to Cheyney after the Quaker who sold farmland for the school in Delaware County Pennsylvania to the Trustees, until the foundation sold the school to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1922. Needless to say the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania lacked the same passion, concern and commitment for Cheyney’s mission to educate Blacks as the Quakers. The Commonwealth’s lack of fervor and vision resulted in decades of neglect and racist policies that continued after the creation of PASSHE in 1982. This neglect has continued to the present.</p><p>Despite an uninterrupted denial of equal support by the Commonwealth, Cheyney’s administrators still retained the commitmentto education, moral uplift and service the Quakers infused in it when they founded ICY. Under Commonwealth and PASSHE ownership, Cheyney suffered from a continuous lack of equal and adequate funding from the state. In the mid to late 60’s student unrest, protests and direct action forced the state to pay attention and up the ante. But once Wade Wilson who was appointed President of Cheyney State College after the first wave of student uprisings retired as Cheyney president, the Commonwealth and PASSHE refused to recruit the innovative leadership needed to position Cheyney as a premier educational institution.</p><p>But it wasn’t just Cheyney, PASSHE as a system proved not to be ready for prime time. Many think because of the early Quaker influence in Pennsylvania that it is a progressive state, it is not. It is as benighted and backward as its some of its more infamous sister states, especially when it comes to public higher education!</p><p>Just two years ago the Commonwealth out of necessity was forced to merge six universities into two new regional schools due to massive fiscal and enrollment challenges. Pennsylvania ranks at the bottom as far as public higher education goes and is one of the least affordable states for pubic higher education in the nation. <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2023/07/12/pa-public-colleges-battle-students-and-funding">https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2023/07/12/pa-public-colleges-battle-students-and-funding</a>,</p><p>In many ways PASSHE is merely a “good ol’ boy’ network, a bastion of cronyism and political appointees with little or no insight into the complexities and dynamics of higher education. Governors and the legislature with the exceptions of Tom Wolf the immediate past governor and the current Governor Josh Shapiro, have not prioritized public higher education in the Commonwealth with the exception of Penn State University. PASSHE as a system has failed in its mission to provide low cost quality public higher education in Pennsylvania for working class families. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/study-ranks-pa-worst-state-for-higher-education/">https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/study-ranks-pa-worst-state-for-higher-education/</a></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Now Cheyney faces yet another challenge. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education the regional accreditation agency placed Cheyney University of Pennsylvania on probation on November 16, 2023. The </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Middle Sates </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Website posted th</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">is</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">, “</span><span style="color:#3a3a3a;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><u>To acknowledge receipt of the supplemental information report requested by the Commission action of June 22, 2023. To note the on-site follow-up team visit by the Commission's representatives to the main campus at 1837 University Circle, Cheyney, PA 19319 on September 5-6, 2023. To acknowledge receipt of additional information provided by the institution on October 23, 2023. </u></span></span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><u> To place the institution on probation and note that the institution's accreditation is in jeopardy because of insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance with Standard II (Ethics and Integrity), Standard III (Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience), Standard VI (Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement), and former Requirements of Affiliation 5 and 11. To note the institution remains accredited while on probation. To note further that federal regulations limit the period during which an institution may be in non-compliance, which started on November 16, 2023.</u></span></span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">” </span></span></span> <a href="https://www.msche.org/institution/0480/">https://www.msche.org/institution/0480/</a></p><p><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">The u</span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">nderlined emphasis is mine. </span></span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Go to the Website and read it for yourself. Th</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">e wording of this post</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> is a direct indictment against the administration of </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">President </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Aaron Walton and an indirect indictment against PASSHE and the Governor who appointed him. Middle States is saying the institution lacks integrity and ethics and questions the administration's ability to even accomplish the mission of the university! This is a huge development. It places the Commonwealth in a major conundrum. What to do, how </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">does</span> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">PASSHE</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> get out from under this indictment by an extremely influential </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">and independent </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">third party </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">accrediting </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">agency?! </span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">The knee jerk</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> letter of support from the Chancellor and the PASSHE Board of Governors is worded in such a way </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">when you read it,</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> it </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">is obvious</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> they didn’t even take the time to read the Middle States’ notice. Contrary to their letter, Middle States did request additional documentation and additional meetings with the university.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> Let’s be </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">honest,</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> Aaron Walton did not create the problems at Cheyney University, </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Cheyney was a mess</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">. H</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">owever h</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">e continue</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">d</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> them as a member of PASSHE’s Board of Governors by being a company man </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">especially when he </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">serv</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">ed</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> as Vice Chair. Walton exacerbated the school’s problems when PASSHE sent him to Cheyney as president! </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">He was simply not a good leader. </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">There is no way to get around Middle State’s placing Cheyney on Probation without a change of leadership! That is the </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">first step towards a practicable</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> solution. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> It is one thing </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">for a president to be</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> inept or incompetent but it is catastrophic when </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">he or she</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> is inept, unethical and unable to carry out the processes for accomplishing the university’s mission </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">and </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">reason for existence! </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Frankly </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">I don’t see how </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">any</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> additional documentation will alter this reality!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve problems using the same consciousness that created them.”; to which I add or the same energy and </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">the </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">same people who created or contributed to the problem! </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">The bottom line is, </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Aaron Walton must go!</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> -30-</span></p><p> </p></div>The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost Part 2https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/the-chickens-have-come-home-to-roost-part-22023-12-14T15:16:23.000Z2023-12-14T15:16:23.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p align="center"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><strong>The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost Part 2</strong></span></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Junious Ricardo Stanton</span></span></p><p align="center"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12325934060,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12325934060,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="12325934060?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">On November 16, 2023 the Middle States Commission on Higher Education placed my Alma Mater, <strong>Cheyney University of Pennsylvania </strong>on probation, again. From my vantage point it was only a matter of time before something like this occurred. The fault lies not with Cheyney but with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) the parent organization created by law to administer and oversee the fourteen state owned universities. When Dr. Michelle Howard Vital retired in 2014, after serving seven years as president, PASSHE chose not to conduct a regional or national search to find the most qualified leader who could steer the university off the rocks and into deep waters of viability and promise. An interim president and two acting presidents steered the ship until Aaron Walton was appointed permanent president.</span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">PASSHE requested and was granted a waiver from the Pennsylvania State Senate to forgo the legislatively mandated search process, then they summarily anointed Walton as the permanent president. That decision while it may have been practical and expedient for PASSHE, it has proven to be disastrous. It did not address the root causes of neither Cheyney’s nor PASSHE’s problems: a lack of vision, foresight and the political will to do the right thing! </span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">In previous years the Commonwealth commissioned several task forces and studies to recommend ways to keep Cheyney viable; specifically in 1992-93, 2009 and 2017. However once the ink was dry on the reports, the Commonwealth stopped short of doing what needed to be done to save the school which was adequately funding the school, selecting bold innovative leaders and fully supporting the university. In short, they carried on business as usual.</span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">This may be news for some of you, but the fact of the matter is, Pennsylvania ranks at or near the bottom in higher education of all the fifty US states, despite former Governor Tom Wolf’s best efforts. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/study-ranks-pa-worst-state-for-higher-education/">https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/study-ranks-pa-worst-state-for-higher-education/</a> </span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">We think because Pennsylvania is located in the North and because of its Quaker founding tradition and influence Pennsylvania is a progressive state; it’s not, especially when it comes to public education. </span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">For decades PASSHE, had its’ own problems which were kept quiet and were often overshadowed by Cheyney’s more highly publicized situation. In many ways Cheyney was used as a scapegoat by PASSHE to obfuscate the problems within the whole system. Cheyney’s predicament was/is not due to any inherent fault of the university but the deleterious policies of a succession of governors, the General Assembly and PASSHE which not only weakened Cheyney but the whole state system as well! Things were so bad that in 2022 the Commonwealth had to merge of six of the fourteen PASSHE schools into two new regional entities just to keep the system viable and afloat. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Back in 2014 <strong>Heeding Cheyney’s Call</strong> a group of alumni and higher education activists proposed what we called a “Framework For Remedies” to resolve the Commonwealth’s enduring legacy of neglect and under-funding of Cheyney. One of our demands was to: “Establish permanent reforms of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) policies and practices necessary to fully implement an essential remedy...” We knew back then, the Cheyney’s problems were caused by PASSHE and a malignant racial bias against the institution by the Commonwealth. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Cheyney’s difficulties, were exacerbated by the Commonwealth’s lack of attention to demographic trends, their failure to adequately sustain PASSHE’s mission by providing visionary leadership and support, in addition to the decades of under-funding of Cheyney and selecting inept presidents fueled by a racism and bias against the venerable institution. Cheyney’s woes were a direct reflection of the Commonwealth’s shortcomings in public higher education and racism.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Former Governor Tom Wolf attempted to address these issues, he called himself the “education Governor” and he was. Under Wolf, public education became a top priority, but unfortunately there was no political will on the part of the Republicans to do in Pennsylvania what states like Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, recently Maryland and now Tennessee and Kentucky are doing; righting wrongs, being more equitable in funding their HBCUs. Wolf did what he could but Pennsylvania has not balanced the scales respective to what it owes Cheyney!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve problems using the same consciousness and energy that created them.” To that I add, and the same people who created them. The Middles States Commission on Higher Education placed Cheyney on probation on November 16, 2023. Middle States is fully transparent and outlined the totality of its actions. You can read them here <a href="https://www.msche.org/institution/0480/">https://www.msche.org/institution/0480/</a> We can read between the lines to infer why they did what they did and why they are asking Walton to provide documentation and proof! </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Resolving this situaton may be as simple as Aaron Walton providing the documentation Middle States requested to address the non-compliance issues. Worst case scenario it may be a precursor to major problems for the university; problems PASSHE brought on by it’s recent and long term actions.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Perhaps Middle States’ actions will be the catalyst and opportunity to spur the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to do what must be done to get it right, to upgrade the PASSHE system, find a dynamic leader for Cheyney University and provide the support to help the institution thrive. Failing that, we may see the demise of a once great institution.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:medium;"> -30- </span></span></p><p align="left"> </p></div>What's In Store for PASSHE and Cheyney Part 2https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/what-s-in-store-for-passhe-and-cheyney-part-22020-07-27T12:08:20.000Z2020-07-27T12:08:20.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7021243274,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7021243274,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="260" alt="7021243274?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></strong></p><p style="text-align:center;"> </p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>What’s In Store for PASSHE and Cheyney? Part 2</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;">Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p> </p><p>“The working theory is that Cheyney was never really targeted to be saved, even when Gov. Wolf personally pledged resources and attention to its cause. PASSHE’S movement and programming, when accompanied by legislative action and research, always suggested that <strong><a href="https://hbcudigest.com/are-people-lying-to-us-about-cheyneys-future/">the campus was being readied to become a STEM-based extension branch of the system’s other institutions</a></strong>, with a focus on training minorities in applied scientific fields.” Jerrett Carter Sr HBCU Digest June 25, 2020 <a href="https://hbcudigest.substack.com/p/pennsylvanias-moves-on-cheyney-just">https://hbcudigest.substack.com/p/pennsylvanias-moves-on-cheyney-just</a></p><p> </p><p>Pennsylvania legislators have passed legislation that would give the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors power to redesign the whole system. House Bill 2171 authorizes the PASSHE Board of Governors to: “create, expand, consolidate, transfer, dissolve, or close an institution or college, empowering the Board to better align the system with Commonwealth workforce needs and enrollment; providing minimum qualifications for Board members and the Councils of Trustees and permitting their removal for cause; clarifying that the Board may delegate duties to the chancellor; clarifying the powers and duties of the Councils of Trustees and presidents; and vesting the Board with the power to enforce Board policies and require institutions to share services and participate in collaborations, where appropriate.” <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?c">https://www.legis.state.pa.us//cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?c</a></p><p>This is a significant piece of legislation. It has been signed by Governor Wolf so now it will provide broad and sweeping powers to the Board of Governors to revamp the whole system, they can remove Board and University Council of Trustee members for cause and compel PASSHE schools to share services and participate in collaborations. In effect the legislature is giving the very entity that oversaw the system’s decline the power to revive it.</p><p>Personally I find this legislation ironic because in 2014 when the <strong>Heeding Cheyney’s Call</strong> negotiating team met with Governor Tom Corbett’s legal staff and the PASSHE legal staff, to seek redress for the decades long history of disinvestment discrimination and failure to comply with agreements with the federal government, one of the items in our <strong>Framework for Remedies </strong>was to: “Establish permanent reforms of Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) polices and practices necessary to fully implement an essential remedy…” We were told by Corbett’s legal team that was a legislative process, which we already knew. We knew the whole system was in trouble and were attempting to put that issue on the table as an action item.</p><p>In 2017 the PASSHE Board of Governors commissioned a study by the <strong>National Center for Higher Education Management Systems</strong> that also recommended the restructuring of PASSHE. In their report NCHEMS recommendation #2 stated “Amend Act 188 to replace the current Board of Governors with a Board of Regents made up of lay members and to clarify the distribution of authority among the Board, the Chancellor, the institutional presidents and the Councils of Trustees.”</p><p>Not satisfied with NCHEMS report and recommendations that did not push for or recommend mergers or closings; in 2018 the Republican controlled legislature commissioned a study by the Rand Corporation. Unlike the NCHEMS report, the Rand Corporation offered several options that called for mergers, consolidations and various ways to reconfigure or eliminate the state system structure. <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2486.html">https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2486.html</a></p><p>House Bill 2171 gives the PASSHE Board of Governors the power to redesign the system. What does this mean for Cheyney the oldest institution of higher learning for Africa-Americans in the nation? How will these new powers impact a PASSHE Board of Governors that has a long tradition of discrimination against Cheyney?</p><p>Jarrett Carter Sr. the founder and editor of <strong>HBCU Digest</strong> pondered this issue. He astutely points out, “Pennsylvania lawmakers have proposed for the PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) to have greater authority in merging and consolidating its 14 member institutions, including the state’s historically black flagship institution, Cheyney University. The measure, which awaits a signature from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, comes two years after <strong><a href="https://hbcudigest.com/new-report-shows-how-pennsylvania-may-attempt-to-finish-off-cheyney/">legislators published a study on how the institutions could be most effectively consolidated.</a></strong> That proposal cited Cheyney’s woeful trends in enrollment and finance and was a signal that the system was moving to finally rid itself of a cash-siphoning, politically delicate, racially-complex money pit amidst several cash sinkholes that comprise the PASSHE system. But the turn of a new decade and a global pandemic have reversed Cheyney’s fortunes, sort of. A week ago, Cheyney posted the system’s <strong><a href="https://www.inquirer.com/education/state-system-university-enrollment-pennsylvania-deposits-20200611.html">highest marks in projected enrollment based upon student deposits</a></strong>. Earlier this week, <strong><a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2020/06/17/cheyney-lands-sure-biochem-labs-of-camden.html">the university welcomed a new corporate tenant to the campus</a></strong> in its growing bio-tech real estate repurposing project…</p><p>And so the system has painted itself into quite a tight corner now, with space growing more restricting by the day. Moving on Cheyney now exacerbates racial tensions that are already sky-high. Attempting to merge or to consolidate the nation’s oldest HBCU in the aftermath of the George Floyd lynching? After hundreds of thousands of people ignored social distancing guidelines and <strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/video/philadelphia-police-tear-gas.html">braved police violence</a></strong> in metropolitan Philadelphia in the name of justice?” PASSHE Moves Towards Mergers and Consolidations; What Does It Mean For Cheyney <a href="https://hbcudigest.substack.com/p/pennsylvanias-moves-on-cheyney-just">https://hbcudigest.substack.com/p/pennsylvanias-moves-on-cheyney-just</a></p><p>It remains to be seen how the PASSHE Board of Governors will weld their newfound powers if this Bill is signed by Governor Wolf. From my perspective and experiences, PASSHE’s history does not bode well for the system as we know it, especially given their long neglect and disinvestment in Cheyney.</p><p> </p><p> -30-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>What's In Store for PASSHE and Cheyney Part 1https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/what-s-in-store-for-passhe-and-cheyney-part-12020-07-19T19:26:37.000Z2020-07-19T19:26:37.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>What’s In Store for PASSHE and Cheyney?</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7021243274,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7021243274,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="260" alt="7021243274?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is wrecking havoc on US higher education at a time when higher education was already in a precarious situation due to a lack of visionary leadership and innovation, ever rising costs, shrinking demographics and competition between conventional institutions and for profit colleges. In an effort to adapt to the demands forced upon them by COVID 19 many universities ramped up their distance learning offerings and have been pressured to upgrade their IT capabilities.</p><p>Around the country many schools and systems like the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) were already facing existential challenges and stiff competition (nationally Pennsylvania ranks forty-eight in affordability and is dead last in post secondary enrollment) and now find themselves in an even more precarious situation due to the disruptive impact of SARS-CoV-2.</p><p>In the past the Pennsylvania legislature recognized many of the problems but elected to keep kicking the can down the road because remedies would prove costly and disruptive. Within the last three years PASSHE and the legislature paid for two studies to address the systemic issues impacting the viability of the system. The first was done by the Colorado based National Center of Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), a year later one was done by the Rand Corporation. The two studies offered two distinct assessments and recommendations.</p><p> NCHEMS recommended a complete overhaul and redesign of PASSHE to give more power to university presidents and the Chancellor and taking politics out of the decision making process. Rand recommended closing and merging troubled schools. It seems the legislature now wants to take recommendations from both studies to plan the future of the system.</p><p>Even before COVID 19, PASSHE experienced a steep decline in enrollment. This decline is based upon decreasing demographics and rising costs. “Since peaking at 119,513 in 2010, PASSHE enrollment has declined continuously to reach 95,494 in the fall of 2019. The drop of 24,019 students represents a 20 percent loss…West Chester, which now has the largest student count at 17,691, has added 3,210 students since 2010 while Slippery Rock has seen enrollment remain essentially flat in the same period. But all other state system schools have lost at least 10 percent, with some of the student losses simply shocking. Take, for instance, the 61 percent drop at Cheyney; a 51 percent enrollment drop at Mansfield; a 46 percent decline at Edinboro; a 42 percent decline at Lock Haven; Clarion’s 36 percent drop and Indiana’s student enrollment decline of 32 percent.” Problems with Pennsylvania’s State Colleges are getting worse Colin McNikle Feb 18, 2020 <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2020/02/problems-with-pennsylvanias-state-colleges-are-getting-worse-opinion.html">https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2020/02/problems-with-pennsylvanias-state-colleges-are-getting-worse-opinion.html</a></p><p>Compounding the logistical uncertainty of COVID and declining enrollments are also other major factors such as escalating staff benefits costs and bond debt. These are issues PASSHE and its funding source, the Pennsylvania legislature via state taxpayers, have yet to address and resolve.</p><p>Now there is a move for the PASSHE Board of Governors to exert more direct control over the system with the power to be able to merge, close or redesign/rebrand schools to meet exigencies. Pennsylvania legislators recently approved House Bill 2171 that would give the PASSHE Board of Governors the ability to: “create, expand, consolidate, transfer, dissolve, or close an institution or college, empowering the Board to better align the system with Commonwealth workforce needs and enrollment.” <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20190&cosponId=30815">https://www.legis.state.pa.us//cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20190&cosponId=30815</a> The Bill would also alter the duties of the Chancellor.</p><p>Historic Cheyney University the first institution of higher learning for “descendants of the African race” is a member of PASSHE and has had ongoing problems with enrollment, retention, finances and debt. Over the years it has experienced blatant discrimination by the Commonwealth and PASSHE that resulted in US government intervention and several successful lawsuits filed by faculty, students and alumni in attempts to redress and remedy the situation.</p><p>Recent reports indicate an upswing in Cheyney’s enrollment and progress in the university’s efforts to monetize the campus. Next week we will look at how this new legislation might impact Cheyney.</p><p> </p><p> -30-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>