Trustees gather at annual meeting

The next strategic plan, appointments of several top administrators and approval of the next fiscal year's budget topped the agenda for the University Board of Trustees, who convened last Thursday and Friday for their annual meeting.

The progress of Building on Excellence, the University's strategic blueprint for the next several years, was presented to the trustees on Thursday. The plan seeks to build on 1995's Agenda for Excellence and includes developing the campus, becoming a leader in urban issues and the social sciences and creating a "continuum of education" to engage alumni in continuous learning.

In its current polished state, the plan "represents the culmination of a great deal of time and effort on the parts of the administration and the deans and staff, and I think we are all very excited by the presentations," Board of Trustees Chairman James Riepe said.

In November, the trustees will meet again to hear the deans of Penn's twelve schools report on their individual strategic plans.

At Friday's Stated Meeting, the trustees reelected Riepe as their chairman and officially appointed three new deans -- Richard Gelles of the School of Social Work, Marjorie Jeffcoat of the Dental School and Michael Delli Carpini of the Annenberg School.

Other resolutions passed by the trustees include changing the name of the Graduate School of Fine Arts to the School of Design.

The trustees also voted to authorize $5.7 million toward the development of a project known as the Advancement System. The project will involve "the acquisition and implementation of new hardware and software systems" to "improve and enhance fundraising at the University."

Further millions are to be spent acquiring the U.S. Postal Service's massive 30th Street complex, which includes well over a million square feet of space and around 17 acres of land. Intending "to execute a legally binding purchase agreement in the near future" -- the University has already worked out a non-binding "term sheet" with the USPS -- the trustees authorized a gross purchase price of $50.6 million.

As the trustees spent the University's money indoors, a group of graduate student union supporters gathered outside in the early afternoon to protest Penn's continuing resistance to the formal unionization of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania.

Dressed as a ballot box --chained shut, to represent Penn's appeal to the national office of the National Labor Relations Board, which keeps February's union election votes from being counted -- GET-UP co-chair Joe Cytrynbaum said he and his colleagues hoped to "have conversations with as many of the trustees as possible, let them know what's going on."

"They have the best interest of the University at heart, and so do we -- we're really on the same page here," the Graduate School of Education student said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.