Jonathan Margulies: The beginning of the end for Wilson?

A number of people over the last few years have told me that Jim Wilson isn't really such a bad guy after all.

He's a devoted family man and a pathfinding scientist, they said. And if it weren't for judgmental undergraduates like me sullying up his reputation in this newspaper, then maybe the Penn community could finally begin to understand the many issues that comprise "human gene therapy" and the events that led to the tragic death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger in 1999.

Never mind the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was in the midst of stripping Wilson of his privileges to do research on human beings, they said. And never mind that the negative publicity caused by his mere presence here was causing irreparable harm both to his field and to this institution. Those were mere technicalities -- and I wouldn't understand them, anyway.

Naturally, the same folks who offered such spiteful words of support didn't bother to explain any of those issues -- Would a simple Whartonite like me be able to follow the discussion? -- or even tell me why Penn's higher-ups never, in two years, allowed Wilson to do so on his own.

Now, I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to have my questions answered. Reason one: I'm graduating in three weeks. Reason two: James M. Wilson, our resident campus bad guy, will soon be the ex-director of the Institute for Human Gene Therapy.

The story on today's front page should have told you that. But what that story probably doesn't include is an explanation of what Wilson's departure from the IHGT really means, both for the University and the many of us on campus who knew all along that he needed to go.

Penn administrators, for starters, will tell you that the departure has more to do with new scientific priorities than that whole messy business of Gelsinger's death and Wilson's professional disgrace. They also will have you believing that Wilson resigned on his own terms.

If you believe that, well, I have some property in South Florida you may be interested in purchasing.

In fact, what's most remarkable about Wilson's exit may be the manner in which it is being portrayed. When, in 2000, the administrative axe fell upon Health System CEO William Kelley -- a man, mind you, under whose direction the UPHS achieved record levels of growth -- Penn administrators made no secret about the fact that Kelley was being terminated at their behest. Now, Wilson is being shown the door -- as he faces allegations that his actions led to the death of a human being -- and everything is just peachy behind those closed College Hall doors.

Would somebody explain why?

I'm sure a number of us would also like to know why Wilson was retained as IHGT director so long after he lost any kind of credibility on this campus or in the broader scientific world. Or why he is even being allowed to stay on the faculty, now that his disgrace has been set in the proverbial stone.

Circumstances would suggest that this weekend's news was carefully orchestrated -- a Friday morning PR job for the University to remove Wilson without actually acknowledging the colossal mistake that it committed by keeping him on during these disruptive two years.

Thankfully, whether or not Penn's spinmeisters were churning out the flak on Thursday night is really quite irrelevant. The forces of good judgment have finally found their way to the top floor of the Penn Tower, and it's now apparent that Wilson's days at this University can only be numbered.

For that, we should all be thankful. Thankful to Arthur Rubenstein, the Health System's new CEO; to Judith Rodin; to everyone who finally recognized the simple truth that a research center specializing in the treatment of humans can't thrive when its director isn't allowed to go near them.

But that doesn't end the sad saga of James M. Wilson and the IHGT. A crucial research institute still sits in bureaucratic limbo. Wilson still stands as a member of Penn's faculty. And an entire university has been left wondering what the ultimate fallout will be from the Wilson era and the unfortunate legacy he left behind him.

Those are the challenges that await this university in the months and years ahead. My only hope is that, as each of them is hammered out in the public forum, the good people who are running this university choose to turn toward common sense when deciding what's best for Penn and the people who count on it as a bastion of high standards.

But then again, what do I know?

Jonathan Margulies is a senior Management concentrator from North Bellmore, N.Y.

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