Are you sure?
Penn State is the state university, U. Pittsburgh is private, and I thought Temple was as well.
Neither the University of Pittsburgh nor Temple are private. They are both state-related, have in-state tuition deals, and are generally regarded as state universities (in much the same way as Michigan or Wisconsin are state schools even if the state is barely paying for them any more).
I think the OP is referring to this article:
http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/10/5730n.htm. Honestly I cannot understand why people, even forum newbies, expect anyone to understand these responses without pasting in a link to the article.