BSL president, former mayor testify versus U.

Black Student League President Martin Dias and former Mayor Wilson Goode criticized the University for distancing itself from the Philadelphia community in the second day of the Mayor's Scholarship trial yesterday. Besides Dias and Goode, the day consisted of a parade of 11 other witnesses called by the plaintiffs to testify on issues of money, equity and educational access to Philadelphia school children. The witnesses were parents of plaintiffs, educational experts, high school students and leaders of organizations functioning to assist Philadelphia students in education. The Common Pleas Court trial is supposed to settle a lawsuit filed in October 1991 against the University over the number of scholarships the University is required to distribute annually to Philadelphia students. The lawsuit, filed by labor unions, student groups and several individuals, claims that a 1977 city ordinance requires the University to award Philadelphia high school graduates 125 scholarships a year for a total of 500 at a time. The University, however, maintains that it is required by the disputed ordinance to provide a total of 125 scholarships at a time in return for rent-free city land. In Dias's testimony, he said that the majority of University students "try to distance themselves as much as possible [from West Philadelphia] and pretty much shun interactions with the community." He said the University did not in the past and still does not fulfill its Mayor's Scholarship obligation to school children of the city, and that only the lawsuit would force it to assume what he claimed is its required role. "When they're kicked in the rear end, then they have concern," Wharton senior Dias said. "When it's going to hurt them, they're really concerned." The BSL -- along with the Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos -- is a plaintiff in the case and is represented by Dias. Dias, wearing a Penn sweatshirt on the stand, was the first University student to testify. Throughout the approximately 15-minute testimony, University attorney Arthur Makadon's objections of irrelevance were sustained. "I spoke from the perspective of a student who has dealt with negotiations with the University, who has dealt with witnessing the negligence of the University . . . and the cavalier attitude the University has toward the community in which it finds itself," Dias said after yesterday's proceedings. Earlier in the day, Goode testified that when he was mayor last year he "came to the conclusion that [the city] was probably not on the right side [of the lawsuit]" and recommended to then-Mayor-elect Ed Rendell that the city join the suit on the side of the plaintiffs. "I felt confident that the Public Interest Law Center [of Philadelphia] would pursue . . . the same kind of issues I would have pursued, had I been involved," Goode said. Rendell, however, chose to disregard Goode's recommendation and align the city with the University in the lawsuit. Goode testified that he believed throughout his term that the University had not lived up to its obligation to Philadelphia students. According to his testimony, Goode began an investigation into the University's Mayor's Scholarships practices in May 1991, while holding meetings with University President Sheldon Hackney, General Counsel Shelley Green and members of city government. "The concern I had was . . . that the ordinance called for 125 four-year scholarships," Goode said. "I simply felt that what should be done was what the ordinance called for, and that students who deserved scholarships should receive them." Makadon, however, countered Goode's charges of inequity in cross-examination, casting doubt upon the extent of Goode's investigation into the scholarship program. Makadon went through a list of four city solicitors who had worked under Goode, and asked, one by one, if any of them had told Goode that the University was not complying with the 1977 ordinance. To each name, Goode responded, "No, he [or she] did not." Makadon also asked Goode to read a letter sent to Green from First Deputy City Solicitor Thomas Wamser in September 1991. In the letter, Wamser said that the University's behavior had "reinforced the city's belief that the University of Pennsylvania is committed to the Mayor's Scholarship program." The letter also assured Green that Goode himself had "offered the cooperation of the city." Makadon did not cross-examine Dias. Testimony will continue today, and many say they think today will be the trial's last day.