FOCUS: Mayor's Scholars / PILCOP lawsuit

Betty Bunn dreams of rags to riches. The resident of a city public housing pro - ject said she could not attend college be - cause she did not have enough money, but now wants her children to achieve the American & Dream. Bunn said her children have the gifts and talents to attend the University, but they need full scholarships. So Bunn and others like her have joined an effort spearheaded by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia to force the University to quadruple the number of scholarships it awards to city students. PILCOP is charging the University with not follow - ing a 1977 city ordinance requiring it to sponsor 125 full, four-year scholarships each year. PILCOP claims that the University should award 125 new scholarships each year, for a total of 500. The University now says it gives out 162 partial scholarships -- the monetary equivalent of 125 full scholarships -- and is complying with the ordinance. PILCOP lawyer Thomas Gilhool maintains that the University is ducking its obligations to the city by not providing 500 scholarships. Gilhool also believes the University has not adequately publicized the program, leaving many poor students unaware of a program that could allow them to go to school. · The University's obligation to the city dates back to 1882 when the University agreed to establish and & maintain 50 scholarships in return for land near what is currently the Hospital of the University of & Pennsylvania. The number of scholarships was increased in June 1910, when a city ordinance required the University to establish and maintain an additional 75 in any & department. The scholarships were designated for deserving stu - dents who attended any high school in the city. In exchange, the University acquired additional land. On August 1, 1977, the University entered into a new agreement with the city that consolidated the two plans and removed deed restrictions that prevented the University from mortgaging the land. "The University shall agree to establish and forever maintain at least 125, four-year, full tuition scholar - ships, or their equivalent, in any of the departments of the University, to be awarded annually by the mayor of the City of Philadelphia to deserving students from all of the schools of the city," the agreement, which was passed as an ordinance, states. The University and PILCOP now disagree whether this requires the University to provide a total of 125 scholarships in any one year or 125 new four-year scholarships each year. "It is 125 four-year full tuition scholarships to be awarded annually," PILCOP's Gilhool said. "That & means there should be 500 Mayor's Scholars walking around campus in any given period, or their monetary equivalent." But University General Counsel Shelley Green said the University reads the ordinance based on history. She said the 1977 agreement was a merger of the previous two, which called for 50 and 75 scholarships to be awarded each year. Green said that the new agreement in 1977 was forged for clerical reasons -- not to increase the num - ber of scholarships from 125 to 500. One of the clerical reasons was that the University wanted to mortgage the land, and banks would not negotiate with land tied up in an ongoing agreement between the city and the University. The University and city created the new ordinance so the land could be mortgaged. A second reason behind the ordinance was the Uni - versity's desire to establish the scholarships under a system that would be strictly need-based. But PILCOP argues that the ordinance did increase the number of scholarships. Gilhool, who was once the state's Secretary of Edu - cation, cites the preamble of the 1977 ordinance which states, "the University has agreed to increase the annual value of the scholarships awarded pursuant to the ordinances approved January 24, 1882, and June 15, 1910." Gilhool said that the only way that one could in - crease the value of scholarships from the previous agreements would be to make them "four-year & annuals." "It's says to increase the annual value," Gilhool said. "There is no way to increase the value without making them four-year annuals -- they were already giving 125 one-year annuals." PILCOP and complainants in the class action suit claim the University's alleged failure to comply with the ordinance is forcing would-be students to matricu - late at other universities which they can better afford. "Being able to pay for schooling is the primary reason to apply," Black Student League President Jessica Dixon said. "Some students go to Drexel and Temple and did not apply [to the University] because they did not know [the scholarships] was available." Bunn, who joined the suit on behalf of her three children, agreed with Dixon. "I have a son who wants to be an artist and a daughter who wants to be a doctor and I could not afford for them to go to [the University]," Bunn said. "If this is taken lightly we will have children stranded in the street -- the University is not living up to its obligations at all." Another complainant, Erika Drummond, said that she did not apply to the University after she graduated summa cum laude last year from Girls High School, and instead enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a "large financial aid package that was enticing." But Drummond added that she would not have come to the University even if she had known about the program. · The class action suit filed in the Philadelphia Com - mon Pleas Court last month charges the University with a host of violations, including taking away the mayor's rights by not allowing him to choose the recipients. "[The University] has taken over the awarding & whole cloth, allowing the mayor of the city the hollow, formalistic ratification of decisions made by the Uni - versity," the complaint says. The city is not a complainant in the case, and a spokesperson for Mayor Wilson Goode would only say that Goode was pleased with the program. The spokes - person declined to say whether the University was complying with the ordinance. "[Goode] is pleased with these scholarships," & spokesperson Karen Warrington said. "They make a critical difference in the lives of many children who may not be able to pursue higher education without them." President Sheldon Hackney said at October's Uni - versity Council meeting that he discussed the program with Goode this summer and both had concluded that the University was in compliance. PILCOP also charges the University with hiding the Mayor's Scholarship Program by failing to publicize it. Three University groups the BSL, the African & American Association of Faculty, Staff and Administra - tors, and the Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes La - tino Americanos, joined PILCOP's suit. Dixon said that one of the main reasons the BSL joined the suit was that many Philadelphia high school - ers were not aware of the scholarship which could influence their decision to come to the University. She said many were not told by their high school, the city, or the University about the program. But Admissions Dean Willis Stetson said the Univer - sity has been working to increase public awareness of the Mayor's Scholarship program. "We have never turned our back on the Philadelphia area," Stetson said. "We are committed to visibility in Philadelphia." The complaint also alleged the University "has sys - tematically acted to reduce the number of students at the University from schools in Philadelphia." But Stetson said his office is "heavily recruiting" in Philadelphia and will travel to over 30 high schools throughout the city this year. "We have also sent an announcement of the Mayor's Scholarship this fall to all principals and high school guidance counselors in Philadelphia," Stetson said. "Plus, we have sent the letter to all the students in our contact file -- that's over 1700." Stetson added that the Admissions Office has re - ceived at least 30 early decision applications from Philadelphia high school seniors, up from 15 last year. PILCOP also alleges in its complaint that the Uni - versity has focused more attention on national recruit - ment, particularly in the "Sunbelt states." But Green said that greater geographical diversity was not exclusive to the University, rather a national trend in education. · Administrators have argued that the University is spending over $1.8 million to uphold the 1977 agree - ment with the city. But the administration's figures are vague and last year, the University only doled out an additional $81,000 over the amount the University would have given without the program. Director of Student Financial Aid William Schilling said scholarship recipients go through the University's normal financial aid process and then receive an extra $500. "We do the normal evaluation of need and then determine what the eligibility would be for a Mayor's Scholarship," Schilling said. "For all students who come to the University, we will provide financial aid to meet your need." In the last academic year there were 162 Mayor's Scholars enrolled at the University -- receiving the equivalent of 125 scholarships, according to University administrators. 162 scholars multiplied by $500 equals $81,000 additional dollars. "I am amazed. I am shocked and amazed. It's a scandal," Gilhool said. "Amid the pieties there is the scandalous truth -- all the piety about the University's poverty can not withstand this discovery."

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