U. officials did not know of Hale's role in HUD actions

University Trustees and administrators said yesterday they did not know that newly-named Executive Vice President Janet Hale was close to the scandals that occurred at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the 1980s. And those officials who interviewed Hale prior to her selection, including President Sheldon Hackney, said there was little on Hale's actions at HUD in the background provided by the search firm hired to find candidates for the job. Many said they interpreted the absence of this information to mean that Hale's actions at HUD were never an important issue. Vice President for Finance Selimo Rael said yesterday he does not know exactly what the search firm knew about Hale's HUD activities. "[Knowlege of her role at HUD] would not have changed my view of her assuming the search firm had investigated it thoroughly," Rael said. "I don't know that they did or didn't do that." Hale worked at HUD from 1981 to 1986, serving as assistant deputy secretary of the department during her last year there. Hale was questioned by a congressional subcommittee in 1989 about her part in two cases of HUD favoritism and mismanagement, including poor underwriting practices at a government backed co-insurance program that eventually cost the federal government more than $500 million. Susan Catherwood, secretary of the University's Board of Trustees, was one of the many who interviewed Hale prior to her selection as the University's next chief financial officer. Catherwood said earlier this week that she finds Hale to be "a wonderful successor" to former Executive Vice President Marna Whittington, who left the University last September. Catherwood said she had no knowledge of Hale's role at HUD. "I don't believe [Hale had] any role in those scandals," she said. "I have totally no knowledge about it." Trustee Stephen Heyman said he had not heard that Hale had testified before a congressional subcommittee investigating HUD, but said he is interested in finding out more. "I have not had an opportunity to call the friend in Washington I wanted to talk to," Heyman said yesterday. "But I want to say that a lot of people who went to work for HUD were implicated in these scandals and were actually innocent of anything." In an unlikely twist, Trustee Emeritus Arlin Adams -- the indepedent counsel investigating criminal wrongdoing in HUD mismanagement -- said yesterday that he was unaware that Hale had been chosen to be executive vice president. Adams said he could not legally comment on whether Hale is or has ever been under investigation by his office, but he added that grand jury proceedings and prosecutions in the HUD affair are ongoing. "I personally did not have any dealings with Janet Hale," Adams said. Hale said earlier this week that she is "cooperating fully" with the independent counsel and has been in contact with Adams' office on several occasions. Adams confirmed that a federal case against Hale's immediate superior at HUD, Deborah Gore Dean, would be coming to trial soon, but said he could not comment on whether Hale would be called as a witness. "I'm not handling that prosecution personally," Adams said. Rick Nahm, senior vice president for planning and development, said he interviewed Hale and found that she is "very sensitive to the Penn culture." He added he did not know about Hale's specific involvement with HUD. "I was not aware of any [involvement with HUD scandals] from talking to her or from background material," Nahm said. "I had no knowledge then nor do I have any knowledge now of [Hale's] role in any scandal," Provost Michael Aiken said earlier this week. Aiken also interviewed Hale.