Fayette County Leaders Look To Save Penn State Campus

LEMONT FURNANCE, Pa. — The Penn State Fayette Eberly Campus is one of 12 branch campuses that could potentially be closing. It’s one of four local branch campuses in southwestern Pennsylvania.“We’ve got to be loud, we’ve got to be heard, and we’ve got to do it quick,” said Muriel Nuttal, director of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce. She said she was stunned when she heard the Fayette campus could be on the chopping block. “My first thought was, ‘I can’t even imagine a Fayette County without Penn State Fayette Campus,’” she said. Nuttal, along with elected leaders at the local and state level, want to gather as much community support that they can to make sure Fayette is not one of the Penn State branch campuses to close. The Fayette campus had 407 students enrolled for this past fall semester. That’s down 30% from 577 students in fall 2020. It’s likely one of the reasons the university is looking to close it down. The university is expected to announce what branches will close before the spring semester is over. Leaders in the county are now working to form two committees. One is for community outreach and social media messaging. The other is a community, student, and alumni communications strategy to help form a letter-writing campaign to university officials. These committee meetings in Fayette County are going to continue. The next one is scheduled for Wednesday morning.