MONT ALTO – Sheila Vieira, a chemical engineer with a PhD in mechanical engineering and a parent of two Penn State Mont Alto students, isn’t buying the university’s justification to close the campus by the end of the 2026-27 academic year. Putting her professional skills to use, she is leading a data-driven charge against the university’s decision.
The fight begins
With her daughter thriving as a senior and her son just beginning his freshman year, Vieira’s personal stake in Mont Alto’s future fueled a rigorous analysis that challenges Penn State’s rationale for shuttering the Franklin County campus (along with six others) when comparing statistics to other of the university’s satellites slated to be retained and supported.
When she first heard the news, Vieira, whose academic expertise drives her skepticism, said she was shocked about the closure. “As an engineer as well as a Mont Alto parent, I couldn’t accept the closure decision at face value,” Vieira told LocalNews1.oirg. “From feedback we got from faculty, we were sure our (Mont Alto) campus was not going to be among the seven that were to close.”
While Vieira and her husband, Edward, clearly have a personal stake in the outcome, she insists her analysis was completely unbiased and relied exclusively on the university’s own metrics.
In February, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi launched a strategic review of 12 of the university’s 19 commonwealth campuses, citing declining enrollment, financial strain and a projected demographic downturn.
The closure plan
In a 143-page report, only made public through a leak to the Philadelphia Inquirer in May, it recommended closing seven campuses including Mont Alto, DuBois, Fayette, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York by 2027. The university released the report a day after the May 12 Inquirer story.
On May 22, the divided Board of Trustees approved the closures in a 25-8 vote in a May Zoom meeting, despite strident opposition from communities, lawmakers and alumni.
The report pointed to a 39 percent enrollment decline across these campuses over the past decade, a $49 million aggregate budget deficit and over $200 million in projected maintenance costs.
For Mont Alto, enrollment fell 16 percent from 710 students in 2020 to 612 in 2024, with its proximity to the Harrisburg campus, 65 miles away, cited as a factor in its condemnation to the chopping block.
Vieira said that as an engineer, she always looks to data to justify decisions. The data was there, she said, but presented in a muddled way to obscure Mont Alto’s strengths. Charts and tables lumped all campuses together, making it difficult for the lay public to follow the bouncing balls toward informed conclusions.
Data-driven resistance
Her Strategic Performance Review, presented to the Mont Alto Borough Council on July 7, dissects the university’s data across 19 performance indicators, including enrollment, academic outcomes, cost efficiency and community impact.
In 13 metrics, Mont Alto ranked in the top five, placing it second overall behind Scranton and ahead of campuses like Beaver and Allegheny, which are slated to remain open.
Vieira’s analysis highlights Mont Alto’s strengths, including high graduation rates, strong median earnings the year after graduation, and cost efficiency with a low maintenance backlog per student.
Mont Alto’s unique strengths
She also points out the campus serves Pennsylvania’s regional students effectively and hosts unique programs, such as a nationally recognized forestry program, the only one in the Penn State system, which trains undergraduates for critical roles in state and federal agencies. It’s nursing program addressnes Franklin County’s growing healthcare needs.
In 2022, Penn State Mont Alto celebrated the ribbon cutting of the campus’ newest facility – the $13 million state-of-the-art Allied Health building for the campus’ nursing, occupational therapist assistant and physical therapist assistant programs article on ribbon cutting.
“Closing Mont Alto doesn’t just affect students and faculty; it undermines the region’s workforce and economic stability,” Vieira said. “Franklin County’s population is actually growing, unlike declining regions like Pittsburgh, where the university is protecting campuses.
Pushback
The closure process has drawn widespread criticism for its lack of transparency and rushed process. Faculty, through the Penn State American Association of University Professors and Faculty Senate, voted 97-62 against the closures, citing the closed-door executive sessions and the fact the report was only released after the leak.
Vieira agrees: “Everything was going so fast, without any input from the public. This is a public university.”
Her report, available online at Penn State Campuses – Data Analysis, calls for greater scrutiny and suggests non-data-driven factors, such as strategic priorities or political considerations, may have influenced the decision.
The document has helped spur robust community resistance. A petition to save Mont Alto has nearly 4,000 signatures, and local leaders emphasize the campus’s 122-year history as a cornerstone of Franklin County’s economy and identity. Other links to further analysis by Vieira include
In- and Out-of-Scope Campuses – Penn State University Data Analysis, Summary of Penn State University Data Analysis.
Potential solutions
The borough council is exploring options like partnerships with institutions such as Penn Tech or leveraging historic assets like the Emmanuel Chapel, potentially on borough land, for preservation grants.
Vieira proposes creative solutions, including a student-led innovation challenge to boost enrollment and community-driven “Save Our Campus” fundraising events.
“Our campus is historic,” she noted. “Why haven’t donors interested in maintaining historic structures been called upon?”
Students are also mobilizing. Jawad Malik, a business marketing major, and Yara Amleh, a senior nursing student and student government president, collected 37 pages of testimony from students, alumni, faculty and staff within four days of the leak. Amleh, a Chambersburg native, called the closure’s revelation via a leak “devastating,” emphasizing Mont Alto’s role in providing access to Penn State’s “public ivy” education.
Malik, who found success at Mont Alto after several false starts at other colleges, described the decision as a “betrayal.” Despite being seniors, both students pointed to economic ripple effects on local businesses, like pizza places and bookstores, and the loss of opportunities for future students as their key motivation.
Vieira’s advocacy extends beyond her report. She contacted student leaders to ensure her findings reached the Board of Trustees, but was dismayed by their response. She has also called for an investigation by the Pennsylvania attorney general, citing potential violations of the Sunshine Act due to the process’s lack of transparency.
A recent lawsuit agreement by Penn State under similar grounds bolsters her case. “If the public doesn’t know what’s going on,” she warned, “there is no question the community will close the campus.”
Challenging the university’s defense
In defending its decision, the university argued that consolidation around campuses in Pittsburgh and northeast Pennsylvania ensures long-term sustainability for PSU amid declining state funding and enrollment.
Vieira’s data challenges this narrative, painting a picture that shows Mont Alto’s superior performance against several other commonwealth campuses and regional importance to south-central Pennsylvania.
The student leaders Malik and Amleh told LocalNews1.org they anticipate an upcoming meeting with the new Interim Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Renata Engel, and plan to present Vieira’s study for further consideration. The borough council also continues to explore all options to keep Mont Alto operational.
Though admittedly personal, Vieira’s fight is analytical and driven not only by concern for children’s futures but also her belief in Mont Alto’s value to Franklin County’s growing population and economy.
