Recollections May Vary: Penn State President Bendapudi Goes To Harrisburg

On Wednesday, March 11, 2026 Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi appeared before the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee. I watched the hearing so you don’t have to, but the full recording is available here.

Like many budget hearings, much of it felt like political theater. Bendapudi offered to freeze tuition for the 2027–28 academic year if the legislature approved Penn State’s request for a 20.23% increase in General Funds. Given that lawmakers have approved only flat funding in recent years, and that Governor Shapiro has recommended flat funding for the upcoming year, the offer came across as more rhetorical than realistic.

Fortunately, there were a handful of representatives who asked substantive questions, including Representatives Chad Reichard, Marla Brown, and Charity Krupa. One exchange stood out; State Representative Jim Struzzi (62nd District, Indiana County) challenged Bendapudi about what he saw as a lack of transparency during last year’s hearing (2:41:20 mark of the video).

When Bendapudi testified before the legislature on February 20, 2025, it was widely known that Penn State was completing a review of its Commonwealth Campus system and that closure decisions were imminent. But when Representative Struzzi and others questioned her about the plans for the Commonwealth Campuses, Bendapudi declined to discuss the status of the review.

This year, Representative Struzzi questioned why she declined to address those questions raised by the Committee, and then a few days later publicly announce that twelve campuses were potentially under the knife?

Bendapudi replied: “Our Board meeting was the 20th and 21st (of February 2025), and until the Board met I could not get ahead of them… At that time the Board agreed that twelve campuses would be under review… Because, truly, I cannot say what is going to happen until all of my bosses vote on it.”

That, the record clearly shows, was not correct.

The Timeline

By February 2025, the months-long process of reviewing all the Commonwealth Campuses for potential mergers or closures was being finalized and the situation stood as follows:

• All decisions regarding the Commonwealth Campuses were explicitly Bendipudi’s decision, not the Board’s.

• There were no Board deliberations, actions, or votes scheduled for the February 20-21, 2025 meeting or any other time. The minutes of the February 20–21, 2025 Board of Trustees meeting show that the sessions were informational only. There was no discussion of campus closures in the public meeting that followed, and Board Chair David Kleppinger explicitly stated that no official actions were taken (see video here, 10:30 mark).

• None of the Board meetings in February had this issue on the agenda, it did not appear in any of the post-meeting minutes, nor on the video archive of the meetings. Trustees were not permitted to deliberate or take action because the Commonwealth Campuses issues were not on the agenda.

In other words, when Bendapudi testified before the legislature on February 20, 2025 the Board had neither voted on any closures nor was expected to do so.

Speaking at a Faculty Senate meeting on February 25, 2025, the Centre Daily Times reported that Bendapudi confirmed where the authority actually lay: “I am saying that the decision will be mine. … I’m going to own this difficult decision.”

Those recommendations were to come to her from her selected administrative team of Michael Wade Smith, Margo DelliCarpini*, and Tracy Langkilde**.

At the same time, Bendapudi was also facing a highly publicized vote of no confidence from the Penn State Faculty Senate, which strongly opposed the closures. Shortly afterward, Board leadership decided to pivot from an ‘executive decision’ to one involving a Board vote of approval of any plan presented for the Commonwealth Campuses. While Board leadership gave no public reason for this involvement, a reasonable inference would be that a possible motivation was to provide institutional cover for Bendapudi’s controversial decision.

That move quickly backfired and raised even more questions.

On May 13, 2025, the list of campuses slated for closure leaked to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The leak, and Penn State’s weak public response, triggered another round of negative headlines.

SpotlightPA then reported that Board leadership began privately lobbying trustees to present a united front: “In private, Chair Kleppinger has told trustees the board should unanimously support Bendapudi’s proposal and that dissent could hurt her legacy.”

In the end, on May 22, 2025, the Board of Trustees voted 25–8 to close seven Commonwealth Campuses. The university projected that the action would produce savings of roughly $50 million per year, or about 0.5% of Penn State’s operating budget.

Those campuses will close at the end of the 2026–27 academic year.

Why This Matters

Bendapudi’s explanation to lawmakers this week points out a serious lack of transparency on her part. The public record shows she alone held the authority to make closure decisions when she testified in 2025. Why is she now misleading elected officials?

For Harrisburg, restricting funding is the clearest way to send a message. Between the concerns expressed regarding Penn State’s affordability, governance, and transparency, it appears lawmakers are saying: We don’t trust you with more taxpayer money. I would not be surprised to see that continue.

* Margo DelliCarpini was hired by Penn State as the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses in October, 2023 and announced her departure March, 2025.

** Tracy Langkilde was appointed Penn State Interim Vice-President and Provost in April 2024 and Fotis Sotiropoulos was hired as the permanent Vice-President and Provost in April 2025.

As a former Penn State alumni-elected trustee, I enjoy sharing my personal observations, concerns, and ideas about Penn State. I invite you to contact me with your opinions so that we can engage in meaningful conversations on those topics: barry@barryfenchak.com.