In two years, there will be no Nittany Lions on the Penn State campuses in New Kensington or Fayette County.

What will be there remains to be seen. In May, Penn State trustees voted to follow the recommendations of President Neeli Bendapudi’s administration and close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of Spring semester 2027.

The announcement that some campuses might close was made in late February. The final vote came three months later with DuBois, Mont Alto, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York rounding out the list.

It has now been more than two months since the campuses received the grim news. The process of next steps, however, doesn’t seem to be moving at quite the same pace.

In Fayette, Scott Dunn is chairman of the county commissioners. He is steering the Eberly Campus Transition Team, a group of stakeholders looking for a way to turn a campus with a 91-year history into something that will serve the community needs going forward.

“There’s a lot of questions about who is going to own the campus going forward,” Dunn said. “We’re just at the beginning of talks with Penn State.”

In New Kensington, the conversations have been less formal, but still, there are conversations happening.

“The campus has served the community for the last number of decades. I certainly think it can serve our world moving forward,” said Jason Rigone, executive director of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp.

These conversations have to happen because May 2027 is not as far away as it might seem.

Indeed, these are conversations that Penn State should have initiated before voting to close the campuses — especially the conversations about ownership.

It is neither entirely public nor wholly private. One way or the other, it would still be off the tax rolls.

But if the university sells the properties to a corporation, that could be an injection of revenue into municipal and county coffers. That could be a way to smooth over the bad feelings about shuttering the doors.

On the other hand, if Penn State turns over the grounds to another non-profit entity, there is no new money coming in, which makes it all the more important for the community to be involved in finding a new way for the properties to serve the public.

Some trustees who voted against the closings particularly expressed concerns about next steps and better planning.

The lack of speed in finding the path forward — or uniformity in process from one campus to the next — speaks of the hurried nature of Bendapudi’s agenda.

This was not a surgical move, or if it was, it was field surgery. The campuses were amputated from the body as a whole. What happens to the chopped limbs is unimportant.

Penn State needs to visibly, loudly prioritize finding the next best step for these communities.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review