Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education After a decade of falling enrollments and shrinking state appropriations, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is taking a major — but controversial — step meant to stem the system’s fiscal woes, shore up academic offerings at struggling institutions, and work more collaboratively with elected officials. The system’s Board of Governors on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan to consolidate six of the 14 universities into two institutions. In the western part of the state, the campuses at California, Clarion, and Edinboro will merge, and the campuses at Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield will become one institution.