U. hires firm to push city scholarships

In a move criticized by one opponent as a "diversionary tactic," the University has hired a local public relations firm to help plot strategy for the increasingly politicized Mayor's Scholarships dispute. University officials hired the Crawley, Haskins and Rodgers firm about two months ago primarily to raise public awareness of the scholarship program, according to John Gould, the executive director of the president's office. Gould said the University hired the firm as a response to attempts by some University critics to politicize the debate over how many scholarships a 1977 city ordinance requires the University to provide Philadelphia high school graduates. He blamed the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia for turning a legal debate into a political dogfight. PILCOP is representing a coalition of local organizations and individuals in a class-action lawsuit against the University. "We were pursuing this issue in the courts and PILCOP chose to pursue it in almost every other venue than the courts," Gould said. "We had to get some help to begin to get our message and our side of the story out to the public." Plaintiffs in the suit claim that the 1977 ordinance mandates the University to provide 125 new scholarships each year. University officials maintain the law calls for only a total of 125 awards, or their dollar equivalent, in any one year. PILCOP officials could not be reached for comment on the hiring or Gould's explanation. But one person actively involved in the suit strongly criticized the move, calling it a "diversionary tactic" designed to "gloss over" the scholarship issue. Dan McGinley, the president of the Philadelphia Association of School Administrators -- a plaintiff in the suit -- acknowledged that publicizing the scholarship program is necessary, noting that none of his six children had ever heard of a Mayor's Scholarship despite graduating from Philadelphia schools. But McGinley said he doubts the truth of the University's stated motivation for the hiring. He alleged that the University is "trying to gloss over the actual facts rather than responding to the issue at hand." McGinley also called the University's decision to hire the public relations firm "a diversion of money that should go towards funding a scholarship opportunity." But Gould said in response that "a great deal of the University's money" could have gone towards scholarships and "other educational priorities" if PILCOP and its clients had not filed suit in the first place. In chiding the performance of University officials at City Council hearings last Friday, McGinley also half-jokingly praised the firm for bolstering the position of his suit. "If the PR firm was in any way responsible for the presentation [University officials] made on Friday, [the firm] should be fired," McGinley said. "Because people who may have been uncertain before were convinced by the kinds of protests and positions that University officials took." Despite favorable testimony by City Solicitor Judith Harris -- who earlier concluded in favor of the University's position -- the 10 hours of testimony saw a parade of witnesses and hostile Council members blast the University's position. Many people who attended the hearings said that University officials did not make a convincing presentation. At one point, President Sheldon Hackney and Executive Vice President Marna Whittington simultaneously answered the same question with opposite answers. Since October, when the suit was filed, PILCOP officials have reportedly used their influence to rally public support for the suit. The officials have consistently denied responsibility for a variety of developments which others have attributed to their political connections. The most recent public show of support for the suit against the University came on March 23, when the Committee for the Penn Scholarships for Philadelphia School Children called a press conference. At the conference, committee members -- mostly representatives of plaintiff groups in the suit -- released standardized test scores for Philadelphia students to prove that hundreds of students are qualified to attend the University under the committee's interpretation of the ordinance. The committee had accused University officials, including Hackney, of doubting whether Philadelphia schools graduated enough qualified students. Hackney denied ever making a comment to that effect.

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