Devastating

That's how the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette characterized Penn State Bullshit Artist Geoff Rushton's response to Rendell's proposed cuts to state-related universities. Old Main still has not outlined  its options should the cut go through. They continue to hold out hope that they can twist arms in Harrisburg to get the money.

"That proposed amount would certainly be a catastrophic cut to the university," Mr. Rushton said. "But at the same time, we anticipate that this will be resolved by [the Legislature and governor] over the coming months."

Pitt was a bit more willing to say what the consequences of the cut would be.

In a statement, Pitt said it was "stunned" by Mr. Rendell's moves and warned they would place "very significant new tuition burdens on tens of thousands of Pennsylvania students and their families."

Whatever the response of these schools, Rendell has sent a clear message to the state-related schools: As long as he doesn't have some control over their spending, he does not consider them fully public universites. Could this funding problem be resolved by restructing the governance of the schools and would Spanier and the Board of Trustees be willing to go along with any restructuring? That's a question an enterprising reporter should ask Rendell and Spanier.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Pennslyvania budget, Penn State budget cut, tuition

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