Faculty support exec VP pick

Although newly-named Executive Vice President Janet Hale was reportedly close to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development controversies in the 1980s, many University faculty said this week that they will still support her. Hale, who served at HUD from 1981 to 1986, was a witness in the 1989 congressional investigation into mismanagement and favoritism in that department. She was questioned about her role in two HUD controversies, one which eventually cost the government several hundred million dollars. Past Faculty Senate Chairperson Louise Shoemaker said she does not think Hale was to blame for HUD's problems. "I doubt that she was involved in any way in the shenanigans that went on there," Shoemaker said. Hale has said that she has never been under congressional investigation and that Congress made no allegations against her. Some professors have said they feel that the case against Hale has been blown out of proportion. "I don't know of the extent of [Hale's] involvement in the HUD scandal," English Department Chairperson John Richetti said. "[But] the [Daily Pennsylvanian] seems intent on making this into a little Watergate scandal." Faculty Senate Chairperson David Hildebrand said he will urge people to give Hale a chance at her new position. "[Hale] seems to be a very capable person," Hildebrand said. "I see no reason why she shouldn't be allowed to perform in her position here." Some faculty members, however, said that they have not followed the Hale story because it does not affect them. "Things like that are so remote from my teaching that I really don't pay too much attention to them," English Professor Daniel Hoffman said.

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