The University hired Cassidy & Associates to lobby on issues related to higher education.
Credit: Adam BennettPenn hired new lobbyists to represent the University on higher education issues in early April.
The University hired Cassidy & Associates — specifically, Senior Vice President Kevin Binger — in the wake of controversies at Penn and other higher education institutions surrounding campus responses to the Israel-Hamas war. Cassidy & Associates is a bipartisan lobbying firm that currently represents multiple other universities, such as the University of Pittsburgh and Boston College.
Binger is the former chief of staff of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and specializes in issues such as government contracting and tax policy. According to his Cassidy & Associates profile, he “helps technology innovators build strong relationships in Congress.” Cassidy & Associates also provides services in crisis management, reputation promotion, and branding.
A University spokesperson declined a request from The Daily Pennsylvanian for comment. Cassidy & Associates and Binger did not respond to a request for comment.
Penn filed its lobbying report for the first quarter of 2024 on April 19, reporting that it had spent $150,000 in lobbying expenses — the most it has spent in one quarter since the third quarter of 2019. In previous years, Penn has consistently lobbied for issues related to higher and medical education, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.
Beth Leech, a political science professor at Rutgers University, told the DP that “a lobbyist for a university is lobbying on everything from athletics to admissions.”
Leech said that Binger’s — and Cassidy & Associates’ — expertise and background in Washington would be beneficial to the University.
“[The firm] is so big and has so many lobbyists, and … you want someone who’s very familiar with the workings and attitudes of Congress, so that you don’t get blindsided,” Leech said.
She also noted that Penn’s hiring of an outside lobbying firm is “not unusual.” According to public records, the University retained three outside lobbying firms in 2023, with a majority of Penn’s lobbying done by Associate Vice President for Federal Affairs William Andresen and Corporate Director of Government and Community at Penn Medicine Kristen Molloy.
However, given the University’s recent controversies — including the congressional hearing that led to former Penn President Liz Magill’s resignation — Leech said that outside lobbyists could be particularly helpful at this time.
“It can be expensive to hire lobbyists. But I will say it’s also expensive to hire a new president of a university,” Leech said. “So having better advice from someone who could better scope out what someone might be asked in a hearing could be very useful and could help protect the University.”
Prior to her December 2023 congressional hearing, Penn hired the law firm WilmerHale to prepare Magill. Days after the hearing, Magill resigned after controversy erupted over her characterization of calls for genocide on college campuses as “context dependent.”
Penn has also faced multiple federal investigations in the past several months regarding its handling of on-campus antisemitism. The United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the House Committee on Ways and Means have opened separate probes into Penn, asking the University to provide documents and information regarding free speech and its treatment of Jewish students.
“Right now, dealing with the fallout from all the protests and potential antisemitism has made it so that this is even more important to have someone knowledgeable representing you,” Leech said.
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