Panelists address state funding, finances

Government and University officials said at a forum Tuesday night that although the University has been forced to make cuts as a result of a proposed loss of state funding, they feel it has managed its financial situation well. "We are not Stanford. We are not Columbia. We are not Yale. Unlike these schools we have our first deficit in 17 years," University Executive Vice President Marna Whittington said at the forum, which was sponsored by the University's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Paul Dluglecki, a representative for State Senator Vincent Fumo; Cheryl Mobley-Stimpson, who represented State Senator Chakka Fattah; C. Delores Tucker, former Pennsylvania Secretary of State and candidate for the House of Representatives and Whittington were panelists in a forum which focused on state assistance for private institutions. College junior and University NAACP chapter Vice President Mia Pittman coordinated asking panelists questions. "Are students in the Commonwealth losing out due to money being spent on the University?" Pittman asked. "The state does not feel that students are loosing out due to money spent on Penn and other private institutions," Dlugolecki said. "Our intent is not to do away with private institutions." "Forty percent of college students in the Commonwealth go to private schools. We should work together to keep up the standards of our private institutions," Whittington said. "How will the class of 1997 be affected by a decrease in the $37 million allocated to the University by the state government?" Pittman asked. Tucker said everything should be done to ensure that present and future Penn students are not affected by such a decrease. "Education is not a cost. Education, not military might, should be this country's main priority," Tucker said. "If it is not, we will lag behind the rest of the industrialized nations of the world." Dlugolecki expressed the same sentiment when addressing the issue of Philadelphia high school students matriculating to the University. "All students have the opportunity to attend this school, and we are trying to ensure this for all of Philadelphia's students," Dlugolecki said. Tucker added that to increase the amount of Philadelphia's high school students who graduate from the University, academic preparation before college must be taken seriously to decrease the drop out rate. College junior and Undergraduate Assembly representative Jonathan Goldstein asked how class size will be affected if state funds are cut. "We do not plan to increase class size past 2,200 students," Whittington said. "We do not have the dormitory space and the infrastructure for larger classes." College sophomore and University chapter of the NAACP President William Gray asked if schools such as the Wharton School will have to separate from the University in order to get more state funding. "The 1990s will be different than the 1980s," Whittington said. "We were receiving much money for research in the 1980's but now we must gear down." College junior and Undergraduate Assembly member David Rose said he thought the forum was worthwhile. "I was very impressed with the quality of the questions," he said. "They were successful in creating not only dialogue between students and panelists but also between the panelists themselves."

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