City Council calls for look at suit vs. U.

Resolution passes 14 to 3 City Council members passed a resolution yesterday calling for a Council investigation to determine whether the University has violated a 1977 city ordinance in computing the number of Mayor's Scholarships it awards to Philadelphia high school students. The resolution calls for a series of hearings to decide whether the ambiguous ordinance calls for a total of 125 scholarships in any given year, as the University claims, or 125 new awards each year for a total of 500 in any given year, as many of the University's critics maintain. The resolution, sponsored by Councilman Angel Ortiz and signed by 14 of the 17 Council members, also stipulates that Council will determine what steps it should take "to secure the University's compliance" if the inquiry finds that the University has failed to meet its scholarship obligations. Only Council members Thacher Longstreth, Joan Specter and Joan Krajewski did not sign the resolution, Ortiz said. With the decision, City Council becomes the latest public entity to join the debate over the scholarships since the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia filed suit against the University on behalf of several plaintiffs last fall. But Council members said while the investigation was spurred by a local law center's class-action suit against the University over the number of scholarships, any conclusions City Council reaches will have no effect on the suit's status. Several members who voted for the resolution, including Ortiz, said yesterday that they think an investigation will affirm their belief that the University is not living up to its obligations. Other supporters of the resolution said they are still undecided and just hope an inquiry will uncover the facts. Councilwoman Happy Fernandez said she was "not going to jump to some conclusion" in the case and stressed that she considers the University to be "a very important and positive influence" in the city. She added that she hoped the hearings lead to a compromise between PILCOP and the University, and ultimately draw more attention to the "broad issue" of how the city gives students opportunities to develop "a skilled and competent workforce." Councilman Herbert DeBeary did not hesitate to blast the University's stance, saying that he sees "no ambiguity" in the language of the ordinance. "I strongly believe the University of Pennsylvania should honor the 125 new scholarships annually, which means that at any given time, there should be 500 [scholarship recipients] at Penn," he said. Councilman David Cohen concurred, adding that he felt the University had forgotten Philadelphia students during its quest in recent years to become a more prominent and prestigious national university. Cohen also criticized the city by suggesting that City Solicitor Judith Harris' finding last week that the University was in compliance with the ordinance was "somehow influenced" by the University's "close relationship" with the city. He suggested that the University's participation in a loan to the city last year and its prepayment of taxes to a strapped city treasury in October 1990 contributed to Harris' ruling and the city's subsequent decision not to join PILCOP's suit. "My experience is whenever a private corporation renders services to the city, there is almost always an element of payback at some future time," he said. David Cohen, Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff, could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he has vigorously denied Councilman Cohen's assertion in the past. Councilman Longstreth also could not be reached for comment yesterday, but his Chief of Staff Jon Weinstein said the councilman considers the planned investigation "ridiculous." "He agrees totally with Penn's position, the position of the city solicitor, and the position of the mayor," Weinstein said. "This is something we feel strongly about." After Harris agreed with the University's interpretation of the ordinance last week, Chief of Staff Cohen stated that the city would not be joining PILCOP's suit against the University. And last month, a group of 20 state representatives sent President Sheldon Hackney a letter in which they threatened not to help the University retain state funding this year due to its alleged failure to provide the proper number of scholarships.

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