This episode offers an overview of the campaign for Penn to participate in a PILOT program with the city of Philadelphia.

Interviewer: KATIE RADER. For decades, University of Pennsylvania student activists have demanded that Penn pay PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) to help fund Philadelphia public schools. The movement intensified in 2020, with over 1,100 faculty and staff joining a pro-PILOTs petition. Among them was Social Policy and Practice Professor DENNIS CULHANE, who in September joined a panel discussion on PILOTs sponsored by the Mitchell Center. In his discussion with political scientist Katie Rader, he revisits the topic in the wake of Penn’s donation of $100-million over ten years for environmental remediation of Philadelphia schools. He addresses whether this amount is the fair share that PILOTs activists have demanded, but also whether unilateral, voluntary donations are a path to true equity. He suggests that the Pennsylvania legislature make revisions to the state’s tax code to ensure a more reliable source of funds for public education.

This week on the podcast, we bring you a story about the relationship between the University of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia. Produced by John Vilanova and Aaron Shapiro, in this episode, we hear from a group of undergraduate students who have organized around the issue of PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxation. Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the United States and, even though Penn is the biggest land owner in Philly, and its endowment is the tenth largest in the country, it pays nothing to the city in property taxes. Here, we follow the students in asking, What exactly is the role of the private university in supporting its home city’s public institutions?