Whitney Answering ‘Clarion Call for Change’

| February 3, 2017

Karen WhitneyCLARION, Pa. (EYT) – “We don’t have the luxury of waiting for someone else to do it,” said Frank Brogan, chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education in a recent Harrisburg address. “We are the people who have to have the courage to step up and sound the clarion call for change.”

Many in the Clarion region heard the “Clarion Call” and are concerned about the future of Clarion University after Brogan also announced a study about how everything operates within the State System and its 14 individual universities. Facing declining enrollments, changing needs, and declining state support, Brogan said at the end of the study mergers or closings might be possible.

Clarion University President Karen Whitney talked about changes and challenges in wide-ranging interview earlier this week.  Clarion itself has experienced a 29 percent decrease in enrollment over the last six years and declining state support, but has made changes in how it operates, according to Whitney.

A story in the Post-Gazette following the announcement also raised the concern of local or residents, employees, students, and alumni and adding remarks that were primarily first published in 2015 from a legislator who said the universities facing the largest enrollment and budget problems were Cheyney, Mansfield, Clarion, and Edinboro.

The Post-Gazette article took his (Brogan’s) remarks out of context, but he was also cutting and pasting articles from two years before,” said Whitney.  “Given the importance of the item the chancellor mentioned, you can imagine I’m not particularly thrilled with what I think was a shoddy approach to telling a story.”

Whitney said she spends time in Harrisburg every year at this time educating lawmakers on the value of public higher education and in particular the value Clarion University brings back to the region.

“The important story here is that the chancellor sees that over the last 10 years – Clarion has been in the middle of this we haven’t been exempt – Clarion has experienced a 22 percent decline in state funding, a 29 percent decline in our enrollment, and at the same time, our costs have continued to escalate primarily because our labor agreement which I don’t control,” said Whitney.

“I have nothing against labor agreements, but what I am against is that the state – between the executive branch of the government and the legislature – is broken. They need to fix the problem, and the problem is the governor agrees to labor agreements, but the legislature doesn’t automatically fund them.  Somewhere between the governor and the legislature, we have to figure out how to ensure the stability of these state assets, these state universities.”

Whitney says that as a college president she is concerned about how things are organized, and the labor agreements are only one example.

“We’ve been continually looking at how we’re organized,” said Whitney.  “We have reshaped ourselves.  We have chosen to reorganize ourselves, not because the chancellor told us or a report told us, but because we’re smart people dedicated to long-term continued commitment to Clarion University and this community.”

“I look at the chancellor’s talk as a rally for change.  Change is hard; change is painful.  There are people who will feel hurt by change.  There are people who will feel disenfranchised by change. We’ve been changing, so I look forward to the review.  I look forward to talking with anyone about how Clarion has chosen to change itself.”

“We’ve introduced a whole new slew of academic programs in health and human services; we’ve greatly expanded our nursing program.  Our education program over the last 10 years took a big hit, but we are back.  We have growth in, education and in business and humongous growth in human services.”

“That’s the new Clarion. We’re not an old Clarion like we were 10 years ago. We’re a new Clarion that’s emerging, and it’s very exciting, and I welcome any review. I welcome any review that can give us advice on how to do what we’re doing better.”

Brogan said that he was taking a hard look at how PASSHE is organized today and how it needs to be organized in the future in order to continue to serve students and the Commonwealth as its public university system.

“Sure the chancellor talked about the most drastic possibilities, but I think it’s about his level of commitment for serious change to help each university go forward,” said Whitney.

Whitney’s complete interview is posted below, and she covers additional issues.


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