More than 1,000 faculty and staff members at the University of Pennsylvania are calling on the Board of Trustees to pay a portion of what the university would owe in property taxes to the city of Philadelphia if the institution paid property taxes.

More than 1,000 faculty and staff members are urging Penn to pay 40% of what it would owe in property taxes to the Philadelphia public schools as a matter of social, economic and racial justice.

With the Philadelphia School District facing a potential annual shortfall of $800 million in five years, some faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania are pushing their employer to pay up to $40 million to the city.

Ahead of the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, Penn professors publicly demand that the University reverse its refusal to pay Payment In Lieu of Taxes and ensure adequate funding for the Philadelphia public schools.

"I think that Penn as an institution has to do more for West Philly. The fact that [Penn] doesn’t pay PILOTs [Payments in Lieu of Taxes] is insane to me. It doesn’t make any sense.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer went on record yesterday with an editorial calling upon the University of Pennsylvania to make an annual payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to support Philadelphia’s public schools.

Campano said that he hopes the board of trustees will respond to the faculty and staff request to meet.

“Penn prides itself on being a community and having open conversations and dialogues,” Campano said. “This time should be no different. The trustees should be willing to meet with us to talk.

More than 900 faculty and staff members at the University of Pennsylvania have signed a petition calling on the school to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) that will support Philadelphia public schools.

The activist group, called Penn for PILOTs, demands that Penn enter into an agreement to make “payments in lieu of taxes,” or PILOTs, directly to a fund that would benefit city public schools, where 52 percent of students are Black and 21 percent are Latinx. By contrast, 7.8 percent of Penn undergraduates are Black and 10.2 percent are Latinx; as for faculty, 3.9 percent are Black and 4 percent Latinx.