Eberly family disheartened over PSU Fayette campus potential closing

Robert Eberly Jr. is keenly aware that part of his family’s legacy hangs in the balance as a decision looms about the future of the Penn State campus named for his father.

Renamed Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus in 2004, the site in the largely rural county is among a dozen branch campuses on the university’s chopping block. The school’s board of trustees this month is expected to consider an austerity plan that would reduce its footprint in Western Pennsylvania and throughout the state.

Robert Eberly Jr., the 80-year-old patriarch of the family that helped found the school’s local campus near Uniontown, told TribLive he is disappointed and deeply concerned about its future.

“We’re obviously not safe, and we are not happy with that as a possibility,” Eberly said. “I hope the trustees and administration can find a way to resolve their budgetary issues without closing Commonwealth Campuses, especially those that are so important to Southwest Pennsylvania.”

Fayette’s Eberly Campus is named for the family that helped fund the 100-acre branch that occupies 10 buildings, including one named for Eberly’s grandfather, Orville. The campus offers nine bachelor degree programs, five associate degree programs and access to the first two years of classes for all other students.

Enrollment has declined in Fayette County, falling to just more than 407 students last fall, according to the university. That number represented a nearly 30% decline since fall 2020, when 577 students were enrolled, according to statistics published by Penn State’s Planning Assessment and Institution Research office.

In February, the university announced that 12 of Penn State’s 19 Commonwealth Campuses could close after the 2026-27 school year because of declining enrollment and finances. Fayette was on the list, along with Beaver, Greater Allegheny and New Kensington in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Each has seen enrollment declines over the last five years.

School officials have said they intend to retain a presence in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but there has been no further indication as to which campus or campuses could be saved or chopped.

The board of trustees said Monday it will meet in executive session Thursday to continue discussion of the branch campus plan.

Eberly, a retired lawyer who resides in Hilton Head, S.C., said the potential campus closing is disheartening.

“If the Fayette campus is closed, there will not be an opportunity locally for graduating seniors who want to stay at home. They’ll have to go elsewhere,” Eberly said. “It will be a very sad day. My grandfather left school in 10th grade but always supported education. He went into the coal mines to support his family and was a man of goals and determination who pursued education. He supported it for all his life. It’s a disturbing circumstance for all of our family.”

The Eberly family, with its roots in the coal mines and banking, has supported education throughout the region. It has been a major benefactor of Penn State for decades, including a $200,000 donation in 2010 and separate $100,000 donations in 2015 and 2022, according to the foundation’s website.

Through its family-run Eberly Foundation, it has funded scholarship programs to 28 schools in Southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, including the backing of major programs at the University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University and an endowed chair at the University of Oklahoma.

The foundation also funds community-oriented initiatives throughout Fayette County. Eberly’s son, Robert Eberly III, today serves as the foundation’s president.

Eberly’s father, Robert Eberly Sr., was a founding member of the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. That organization’s offices are located on Eberly Way, in Lemont Furnace, just outside Uniontown.

Jim Foutz served with Robert Eberly Sr. after the economic development agency’s founding in the early 1970s.

“I’m sure he would be heartbroken,” Foutz said of the potential campus closing. “That was his baby. All those buildings were built under Bob’s encouragement. When you look at what we have now in Fayette County, it’s all there because of Bob Eberly and because of Penn State.”

Fayette County Commissioner Dave Lohr attended the Penn State Fayette campus as a student in the late 1970s. He said its closing would be a major loss for local residents, in terms of access to higher education but also for the Eberly family legacy.

“Mr. Eberly was a huge supporter of this campus, and he put his emotions and his money into that,” Lohr said.

Lohr and a group of community leaders last week traveled to State College to hand-deliver to trustees a stack of letters urging the school keep the Fayette campus open.

“We’re hoping it stays open and the student numbers also go up,” Lohr said.

Eberly said he understands that Penn State’s decision is out of his hands.

“As long as the family foundation continues to exist, our focus will be on continuing education in Uniontown and Fayette County, in particular,” Eberly said.