Penn Board of Trustees Refuses to Meet with Faculty and Staff on Payments to Public Schools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PENN BOARD OF TRUSTEES REFUSES TO MEET 

WITH FACULTY AND STAFF ON PAYMENTS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Faculty to Speak Publicly Tues, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m., 

Call on Trustees to Change Course at Sept 24 Meeting

PHILADELPHIA, PA—The University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees is facing unprecedented public challenge from faculty and staff for refusing to meet and discuss Penn’s obligation to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to the Philadelphia public schools.  After months of silence from the trustees, faculty and staff have called a press conference by Zoom on Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. to discuss the need for accountability from the trustees—and to call on them to reverse course at the September 24 meeting of the Trustees’ Budget and Finance Committee.

 Amid historic protests against racial inequality, over 1,000 faculty and staff have called on Penn to pay PILOTs, as every other Ivy League university does.  In July, 68 faculty and staff took the additional, unprecedented step of requesting direct meetings with 19 members of the university’s highest governing board—the Board of Trustees—to urge Penn to pay 40% of what it would owe in property taxes to the Philadelphia public schools.

 The trustees’ response has been, in the words of the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board, “stony silence”—a failure even to acknowledge receipt of these requests for meetings.  “The trustees’ silence suggests that we at Penn have a lot of work to do before this institution stops being part of the problem and starts being part of practical solutions to racial and economic inequality,” notes Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Associate Professor of History. “The trustees’ failure to meet with faculty also raises troubling questions about their commitment to shared governance of the university.” The Inquirer editorial calls on the Trustees to come to the table.

 “Public school students, teachers, and staff face a terrible budget crisis,” explains Mary Summers, Senior Fellow at the Fox Leadership Program and Lecturer in Political Science. “But the Penn Trustees refuse even to meet with faculty and staff to discuss Penn’s obligation to the schools.”

 “Penn is the city’s largest private property owner,” adds Anne Norton, Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science. “Paying PILOTs is part of our responsibility to care for the city we love.”

 “The Trustees can reverse course this month,” says Gerald Campano, Professor and Chair of the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division of Penn’s Graduate School of Education.  “The September 24 meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee can be the moment that Penn’s Trustees decide to reconsider their policy and do right by our city’s students and teachers.”

 To date, the only trustee to have spoken publicly on PILOTs is board chair David L. Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast, who has reiterated his opposition to PILOTs twice to the Inquirer.

 “David Cohen has long been the face of Penn’s refusal to pay its fair share to the Philadelphia public schools,” explains Amy C. Offner, Associate Professor of History. “His arguments have been refuted and do not persuade faculty, staff, or the wider community.  Our city and country are rising up against racial inequality, students are denouncing Cohen, alumni are refusing to donate, and over 1,000 faculty and staff members have publicly declared that our university must change its policy.”

 Featured speakers at the press conference will include:

·      Dr. Vivian L. Gadsden, William T. Carter Professor of Child Development and Education, Graduate School of Education

·      Dr. Gerald Campano, Professor and Chair of the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division, Graduate School of Education

·      Dr. Rogers Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, School of Arts and Sciences

·      Dr. Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Associate Professor of History, School of Arts and Sciences

 To join the Zoom press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m., please email pennforpilots AT gmail DOT com

 To watch the Sept. 24 meeting of the Penn Trustees’ Budget and Finance Committee, visit: https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/open-trustee-meeting

 About Penn for PILOTs

Penn for PILOTs is an organization of over 1,000 faculty and staff at the University of Pennsylvania formed in July 2020 on the belief that Penn has a responsibility to ensure adequate funding for the Philadelphia public schools.  Visit our website to read our statement and list of signatories, read our FAQ, and find recent press coverage.

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