PSU delays residence hall projects for Abington/Brandywine

A day after administrators at Pennsylvania State University appeared all but certain to begin building residence halls at its branch campuses in Abington and Media, the board of trustees put the brakes on the project – at least temporarily – at the urging of Gov. Wolf.

Trustees who are members of Gov. Wolf's cabinet successfully convinced a majority of the board to delay the projects for further study. The 402-bed apartment-style residence at Abington, the 256-bed residence hall at the Brandywine campus in Media and a student union building at Brandywine would cost the university more than $100 million. They would be the first residence halls on what have been commuter campuses for years.

The decision comes as Gov. Wolf continues a battle for a 2015-16 state budget in which he is seeking a boost in higher education funding for Penn State and other colleges. His cabinet members, who serve on Penn State's board, linked that budget battle with the approval of the residence hall projects.

"He believes very strongly that the appropriation is too low…," said trustee John Hanger, Wolf's secretary of policy and planning. "He also believes very strongly that money must be spent very carefully. We have to draw a distinction between projects that are essentially wants verses projects that are real needs."

Trustee Mark Dambly, who proposed approval of the projects as head of the finance committee, said he was "troubled" by the lack of confidence in the administrative staff and the finance committee that approved the projects on Thursday. He said the projects had been thoroughly vetted and in the works for eight years, and the university already has spent $10 million on them.

"These campuses are going to be completely deflated," said Dambly, who left the meeting before discussion concluded.

David Gray, senior vice president  for finance and business, warned that delaying the projects a couple months could be costly and set back the opening of the residence halls by a year. They are currently slated to open in 2017 and are being proposed to keep the campuses growing and competitive in the Philadelphia market, which is saturated by schools that have on-campus housing.

Trustee Chairman Keith Masser said he will call a special meeting next month to vote on the plan and asked all trustees to get whatever questions they have answered.

"Be prepared to vote yes or no by the second or third week of December," he said.

Several trustees who were elected by alumni, including Anthony Lubrano, Al Lord, Alice Pope and Ted Brown, spoke in favor of a delay out of deference to the governor's request.

"We now have in place someone who's a friend to public education and we're asked to really work hard to build that relationship and that partnership and it behooves us to do that," Lubrano said, also noting that the university needs to weigh the projects against other needs, including a lot of deferred maintenance. "There will be opportunities for us to ask for help from that partner."

Hanger said the university should more carefully consider whether adding residence halls, which would change the "character" of the campuses, is warranted.

Dambly criticized Hanger and other trustees for their late objections and questions about the project.

Hanger promised there would be more. He said the governor's representatives "are not rubber stamps."

"I do not apologize for asking tough questions, even relatively late in the process," he said. "If people don't like it, it's kind of too bad."