State funding for the School of Veterinary Medicine has not been restored after Pennsylvania House Republicans struck down millions of dollars in a vote in December.
Credit: Carly ZhaoState funding for Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine has yet to be restored following the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ decision to withhold funding over concerns about antisemitism.
Uncertainty over state funding has continued to loom over Penn Vet since state House Republicans struck down $31 million in funding in a December 2023 vote. Although no vote has been scheduled at this time, Penn Vet and Pennsylvania House Democrats remain hopeful that the school will continue to receive funding — including both the withheld funding and proposed funding for the next fiscal year — as it has since 1889.
Penn Vet’s Chief Communications Officer Martin Hackett wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn Vet has remained engaged with the General Assembly since the vote in December 2023, in hopes of regaining the $31 million withheld for fiscal year 2023-24 and implementing proposed funding for fiscal year 2024-25.
Hackett added that Penn Vet has continued to provide services to Pennsylvania throughout the impasse.
“Given our role in protecting animal and human health from threats — such as avian influenza in poultry and, more recently, dairy cows and humans — we remain hopeful that state officials will see the benefit of continued investments in our work,” Hackett wrote.
In a statement to the DP, Nicole Reigelman, press secretary to state House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), wrote that “[state] House Democrats remain hopeful that a vote may still succeed to get 2023/24 funding to the veterinary programs and students at our only veterinary school, however House Republicans continue to block those funds.”
Reigelman added that state House Democrats recognize the important role that Penn Vet plays in Pennsylvania’s “thriving agricultural sector.”
In a December 2023 floor debate about the funding, Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said that the University must do more in terms of “rooting out, calling out, and making an official stance on antisemitism” before he could support funding for Penn Vet.
Following the Dec. 13, 2023 vote, five Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives formed a task force to address antisemitism on Penn’s campus. The members of the task force include Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Fulton), Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R-Luzerne), Rep. Rob Mercuri (R-Allegheny), Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Bucks), and Rep. Tom Jones (R-Lancaster/Lebanon).
On Dec. 20, 2023, Cutler wrote to Interim Penn President Larry Jameson and Penn Vet Dean Andrew Hoffman to inform them about the formation of an “envoy” in response to “months of disturbing reports of antisemitic activity” and a lack of immediate change on campus.
At the time, Cutler said that the envoy will work with Penn to receive University support for legislation at the state level, a review of student organization and University spending, and a statement from the University that condemns antisemitic behavior and calls for genocide.
Topper, the Republican chair of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee, previously told the DP in December 2023 that he believes conversations with the University and the Board of Trustees will be vital to move forward.
“We need to establish and regain a bit of trust that we can feel comfortable with the University's code of conduct with where they stand on certain fundamental, basic human rights issues,” Topper said.
In response to a request for comment on the activity of the envoy in recent months, Reigelman, on behalf of McClinton, wrote that “it has no authority in the legislature.”
“After using unrelated hot-button political and social issues as an excuse to grandstand and withhold funding from the University of Pennsylvania, the ‘task force’ House Republicans announced in December was just another political stunt,” Reigelman wrote.
All five members of the envoy, and Cutler, did not provide comment on the status of the envoy despite multiple requests for comment from the DP.
In his fiscal year 2024-25 budget proposal announced on Feb. 6, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro allocated more than $33 million in combined funding to Penn Vet and Penn Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases — the same amount allocated in the current fiscal year.
Reigelman wrote that “budget negotiations will start in earnest closer to June.”
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