A trustee's charge

A at a meeting of the University trustees' Student Life Committee yesterday, Alan Hassenfeld could not stop talking about dinner at Hill College House. The Penn trustee spent Wednesday night dining and chatting with a handful of students to find out what was on their minds.

You could say Hassenfeld was doing the job of someone who wanted to be in touch with the community he was governing. In the process, he was setting a perfect example of what all University trustees should be doing when they come back to campus.

Sadly, though, when the trustees' meetings wrap up this afternoon, many of the University's top decision-makers will leave without really learning anything new about the school they are supposed to be in charge of.

What is said in these meetings is often not the unvarnished truth about what really goes on at Penn. Rather, it is the best face forward as to not cause a stir, and that's just counterproductive. It is too easy for anyone speaking in front of a trustee panel to sugar-coat the concerns of the campus.

Many Penn trustees care deeply about their university, as do those who invest so much in it each day they are here.

But if they step off campus having seen nothing but the walls of the Inn at Penn, they are not performing their duties to the University.

Trustees should be out in the community, listening and taking in all that goes on here, even if it is only for a few days. There is no harm in walking unannounced into a dining hall and striking up a conversation with real students.

In the end, trustees are charged with tackling the issues of the day and making strategy decisions for the future. There is no better way to prepare than by experiencing Penn firsthand.

You never know what you might find.

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