FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 8, 2020

Contact: pennforpilots [at] gmail [DOT] com

523 PENN FACULTY AND STAFF CALL ON UNIVERSITY TO MAKE 

PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES TO PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Statement Calls PILOTs a Matter of Justice for a Wealthy University Sustained by a Poor City—and a Way of Redressing Racial Inequality

Philadelphia, PA—Five-hundred twenty-three faculty and staff at the University of Pennsylvania have released a statement calling on the university to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to the Philadelphia public schools.  Signatories come from eleven of Penn’s schools and reveal unprecedented support for an idea that is taking hold across the city amid widespread concern about budget cuts and racial inequality.

“Penn is the largest property owner in the city of Philadelphia, but…it pays no property taxes on its non-commercial properties,” the statement reads.

“We call on Penn to contribute to an Educational Equity Fund governed by the school district and city of Philadelphia,” explains Tulia Falleti, Class of 1965 Endowed Term Professor of Political Science and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program.  “The fund would help the schools meet urgent needs such as removing lead and asbestos from buildings and addressing staffing shortages.”

Organized by the new faculty and staff organization Penn for PILOTs, the statement forms part of a city-wide campaign inspired by growing economic inequality and uprisings against racial inequality.  “Philadelphia Jobs with Justice launched a campaign in May to make wealthy non-profits contribute to an Educational Equity Fund for public schools,” says Mary Summers, Senior Fellow at the Fox Leadership Program and Lecturer in Political Science.  “This idea has been raised for years at Penn, but the Board of Trustees has failed to respond.  We want our university finally to pay its fair share.”

Penn is the seventh wealthiest university in the country, with an endowment of $14.7 billion.  Philadelphia, meanwhile, has the highest rate of poverty of the ten largest cities in the United States.  “Penn’s tax exemption is predicated on the notion that it is a non-profit institution that exists to fulfill a public purpose, not a for-profit corporation that exists to accumulate capital,” the statement reads. “That distinction must be made meaningful… The university must not be an exemplar or engine of urban inequality.”

“Penn argues that it contributes to the city through targeted investments in its immediate neighborhood, scholarships, and academically based community service courses,” notes Justin McDaniel, Professor of Religious Studies.  “But these privately controlled, geographically concentrated interventions do not fulfill the fundamental responsibility that every resident has to contribute to the public governance—to public schools available to all, financed by all, and governed by democratic procedures.”

“Penn’s obligation is particularly urgent at a time when protests against racial inequality and injustice have engulfed our city and country,” the statement concludes.  “Every institution in our society must address the root causes of racial inequality, which include systems of public finance that enrich wealthy, private, majority-white institutions while underfunding public institutions and public services.”

To read the statement and list of signatories, visit: www.pennforpilots.org/petition

For answers to frequently asked questions, visit www.pennforpilots.org/faqs

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