On Thursday, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi addressed the university community for an hour via live stream. Bendapudi appeared alongside Interim Provost Tracy Langkilde, Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read, and Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Margo Dellicarpini, as each spoke about the work they were doing for Penn State.

After the live stream, Bendapudi met with student journalists from Onward State, Centre County Report, the Daily Collegian, PSNTV, and CommRadio. While speaking with representatives from some of Penn State’s most notable student media outlets, Bendapudi often avoided giving specific answers to many questions, especially those involving policy.

Here’s what we learned from Bendapudi’s forum and her conversations with student media members.

On Commonwealth Campuses

Bendapudi spent much of her live stream talking about Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses and the importance they provide Penn State. However, the future for Penn State’s satellite network wasn’t always bright.

Read noted on the live stream that Penn State was launching its funding opportunities for two cohorts of researchers at Commonwealth Campuses, including one trying to reduce opioid harm in communities with substandard health networks.

Dellicarpini, however, was less positive. She spoke often about the enrollment cliff the Commonwealth Campuses were facing and the lack of interest nationwide in attending a satellite campus as opposed to a main campus.

“Pennsylvania is also an incredibly crowded landscape for higher education,” Dellicarpini said. “There’s more competition for fewer students.

“We know that students expectations are changing,” she continued. “We know that we continue to have conversations about the value of a four year degree, and we know that cost is a huge factor. So as we look at this landscape, we see that these internal challenges and these internal and external challenges really are situated right around the space that the campuses reside in.”

Dellicarpini said the Commonwealth Campuses will need to modernize their business model in order to survive.

When speaking with students, Bendapudi stressed how Penn State had kept tuition flat for Commonwealth Campus in-state students during her tenure as president. She also said Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses could be “cannibalizing” with the level of competition for each campus, and campuses need to be more collaborative.

“[One of the] other things we’re doing is we’ve created a couple of competitive programs so that students on these Commonwealth Campuses can get the same rich research experiences, [providing] the resources so that they can work with faculty and with the communities they live in to make a difference,” Bendapudi said.

On State Funding

It was clear as she spoke with students that funding from the Pennsylvania state government was at the forefront of Bendapudi’s mind. She reminded student media Penn State receives some of the lowest per-student funding of major collegiate institutions in the state and had some of the worst funding in the country. However, she seemed optimistic about Pennsylvania’s new, performance-based funding goals.

“We are already focused on it. It will focus us all back on student success,” Bendapudi said. “That’s good for the state. They should be rewarding us for doing the right thing for students.”

On Penn State Athletics

Bendapudi spoke briefly with students about the House vs. NCAA ruling that altered the course of NCAA athletics by changing the standards on athlete pay at schools like Penn State. Bendapudi largely said Penn State was still searching for answers.

“Obviously, we’re still trying to digest all of the legal, how that goes. None of us know, so we have to wait and see how that transpires,” Bendapudi said. “We don’t have all the answers, but the good news is that both our AD (Pat Kraft) and I are very actively involved at the national level, so that we at Penn State can have a voice in shaping that discussion.”

When asked if Penn State would be interested in naming opportunities for Beaver Stadium and Bryce Jordan Center, Bendapudi said Penn State was always interested in ways to create more revenues.

On Reducing Emissions

While it wasn’t mentioned at the meeting with student media, Bendapudi and Langkilde spent some time talking about Penn State’s emissions. Since 2005, Langkilde said, the university has cut its emissions by 50%, with 28% of those cuts coming in the last five years.

In 2022, Penn State promised to slash its emissions 55% by 2025 based on a 2005 baseline. Similarly, it said it would cut emissions by 70% in 2030 and it would eliminate all emissions by 2035.

“Usually the biggest impact, the lowest hanging fruit happens early on, and so the fact that we’re still making major headway is truly cause for celebration,” Langkilde said. “And our students have been really essential to this. So recently, they led recycling efforts at our stadium, and they helped address nighttime lighting at our athletics facilities outdoors, so they’re driving and making an important contribution.”

On The Board Of Trustees

In recent months, Penn State’s Board of Trustees has made notable and controversial headlines. Two alumni-elected trustees are actively engaged in lawsuits against the university. One of those trustees appears set for removal from his board position after the board’s governance committee recommended his expulsion.

However, Bendapudi said she had no concerns about the direction of the board. As someone who answers to the board, Bendapudi said she was only interested in how the trustees supported her efforts.

“I am here for one reason, one reason, and that is to make sure that the students at Penn State have the very best experience that they can anywhere,” Bendapudi said. “That also means that I support our faculty and staff, because something that’s critical that we need to talk about is the research done at Penn State, how much it makes your education stronger.”

Bendapudi also said the board has been good at keeping her out of any behind-the-scenes drama.

On Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On the live stream, Bendapudi touched on Penn State’s efforts to hire a vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Langkilde said a search committee was being formed and the university would provide updates as it had them.

With students, Bendapudi said that improving diversity was “a fundamental commitment” and not a “flavor of the month” situation.

“All we can do is give you the opportunity. So we are very proud of the fact that Penn State is not backing away from that, but we are always mindful in watching what’s happening,” Bendapudi said.

On Her Compensation

Bendapudi’s conversation with student media ended after she answered a question about her compensation increase granted by the Board of Trustees as the board looked at cutting funding to Commonwealth Campuses and delivering severance packages to many employees.

“I don’t know how much I feel about going on the record on that topic. I was able to give it back to the university, and that meant a lot to me, and honestly, it’s an extraordinarily competitive marketplace,” Bendapudi said.

After the meeting, Onward State and the other attending news organizations received a follow-up email from Penn State’s strategic communications team. It addressed several of the questions asked, including the one about her compensation.

“Regarding how the final question was phrased around furloughs and President Bendapudi’s salary, I don’t believe it was accurate,” the email read. “We wanted to clarify that she declined any increase in her annual base salary in Feb. 2024 following a positive review of her performance by the University Board of Trustees, in which she was praised for establishing challenging goals and executing difficult decisions to achieve them – while overseeing one of the most complex academic research enterprises in the nation. The board augmented both Bendapudi’s deferred compensation to better align with market data related to the scope of responsibilities, and her completion bonus starting in 2027. Her base salary remains the same.”

Writer’s Note: The question was phrased poorly. However, Bendapudi is still set for a significant raise in a few years, which is enough to pay for a few of the salaries Penn State is cutting at the Commonwealth Campus level.