‘Maximum Care and Caution’ Urged at Penn State Board Meeting

NEW YORK — Moving with what administrators called ‘extreme caution,’ Penn State trustees agreed without dissent Friday to slow progress on new-construction projects at University Park.

Their decision may prolong planning for anticipated Pattee Library, Cedar Building and South Halls renovation projects, along with a HUB-Robeson Center expansion. ‘Moving forward in a normal fashion is just not possible’ for those plans, Senior Vice President for Business Al Horvath told the trustees.

He said the state-funding cut proposed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett have brought ‘tremendous uncertainty’ to the university and that it should ‘operate with maximum caution and care.’ Corbett has proposed a 52 percent state-funding decline for the university — a plan that would amount to an annual reduction of some $182 million starting in 2011-2012.

Horvath said the university is ‘trying to take a deep breath’ and ‘figure out what all of this means.’

Under the trustees’ action, architects have been named for the HUB-Robeson Center, South Halls and Cedar Building projects. But the administration will not ask the board for final approval for construction until the financial situation has become more clear and ample funding sources have been fully secured, administrators said.

The trustees’ action also approved a final design and contracts for renovation work in a portion of Pattee Library. But the university will not actually award those contracts until the administration has determined it’s on solid-enough financial footing to proceed, Horvath said.

The trustees’ move will not affect construction projects that are already underway, administrators said. A university statement indicates that that ‘final authorization for any capital projects’ at University Park will be postponed until ‘the funding picture becomes more clear.’

The HUB, South Halls, Pattee and Cedar projects would be funded primarily through a variety of non-state sources, including student fee revenues and some borrowed funds, administrators said.

Still, they said, the university is operating on all financial fronts with caution.

‘This is not so much about the dollars as it is about us being in a very conservative financial mode right now,’ Penn State President Graham Spanier told reporters after the meeting.

Horvath said HUB expansion project would add about 28,000 square feet to the facility, expanding its overall size by about 30 percent. He said demand for space there, especially for student activities, is severely outpacing supply. The expansion is projected to cost perhaps $25 million.

The Cedar Building project, expected to cost less than $10 million, would address failing mechanical systems and other aging elements of the facility.

The Pattee project, expected to cost $7 million, would renovate about 36,450 square feet of the 234,000-square-foot library. It would emphasize open collaborative spaces, technology, and group study facilities, among other features, on the first floor.

The South Halls project would create 32 ‘living-learning communities’ and update the 1957 complex, Horvath said.

In other business at the Friday meeting, held in New York, the trustees honored late board members William Schreyer and Stanley Schaffer. They also learned the ballot positions of candidates in the upcoming trustee-board elections.

StateCollege.com will post additional coverage from the trustees meeting. Earlier stories are available in the Penn State news section of the site.