Commission releases report

Officials praise findings Anxiously awaiting campus reaction to the Commission on Strengthening the Community's preliminary report, senior administrators said yesterday they are impressed with the plan's wide scope. Interim President Claire Fagin complimented Commission members on their courage for recommending what may be controversial changes to the University and on their "extraordinary volunteerism." Fagin said yesterday she thinks the Commission report is "phenomenal." The 47-page report which appears in today's Almanac is the culmination of six months of information gathering by the 22-member Commission, appointed by Fagin and former University President Sheldon Hackney, in the wake of the 'water buffalo' incident and confiscation of The Daily Pennsylvanian. The report's more than 50 recommendations affect almost every aspect of University life. Several administrators, including Fagin and some of the Commission members, said the reports recommendations to eliminate the University's speech code and to restructure freshman housing will be the most controversial subjects in the report. "The most significant [recommendations] are the ones regarding the discipline of speech, first-year housing, and the faculty trying to decide its own role and its own rules and conduct," Commission Director Rebecca Bushnell said yesterday. "Those represent the greatest change from existing policy." But Commission Chairperson Gloria Chisum, who is also vice chairperson of the University Board of Trustees, said she is anxious to see which recommendations provoke the most discussion from the University community. Chisum and Fagin both said that many of the report's recommendations, especially the least controversial, will begin to be implemented immediately. And many officials said yesterday they do not think many of the Commission's recommendations are too controversial, adding that they foresee few impediments to full implementation of the report. Even on the potentially touchy issue of using faculty commitment to campus life as a criteria for promotion and salary determinations, most officials said they do not foresee much resistance. "I don't think it will be controversial if it is understood in light of the concerns of the Commission," Wharton School Vice Dean and Commission member Janice Bellace said yesterday. Bellace said a salary and promotion process that captures the importance of community involvement might take pressure off faculty members to excel only in research or to respond solely to teacher evaluations. Fagin said some of the Commission's recommendations are already being implemented independently by various campus groups. She added that the University Council Committee on Pluralism and the newly-formed Committee for Judicial Reform will begin to work on the Commission's suggestions, perhaps as early as this week. In addition to these committees, the Commission report advocates that the provost create two ad hoc committees to work out the details of its proposals. Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson, who will be responsible for forming these committees and implementing much of the report, said yesterday he is impressed by the Commission's work. "I think it is enormously impressive, incredibly thoughtful and it's realistic," Lazerson said. "I think many of the things we can implement and all of the things in that report are worth talking about and coming to some decisions about. The thing that hits me most is how [carefully] thought out it is." Linda Hyatt, executive director of the President's Office, was appointed by Fagin to help coordinate the report's implementation. "I'm very excited about the prospect of working to implement Commission findings as a full-time member of University community," Hyatt said, adding she is hesitant to speak in detail without further discussions with Fagin. "I work here and live here and understand the importance of having a strong, integrated, and supportive community," she said. Hyatt lives with her husband, Political Science Professor and University Council moderator William Harris, in the Quadrangle. The time frame suggested by the report, which states that work on many of its recommendations must be started within one year, may be hard to meet, Fagin said. But Lazerson disagreed, saying he is confident that the time frame is realistic and achievable. He said one of the most difficult tasks proposed in the Commission's report is developing a set of common, core values. This task will be delegated to a faculty ad hoc committee. "I think it will be difficult, but I think on issues of speech, as speech, there is a broad consensus," Lazerson said. "On that idea, there is broad principle allegiance and academic integrity is another." "Without being Pollyanna-ish about this, I think we can build in a way of implementing those things which we believe in," he added. Lazerson said he and Fagin are committed to moving ahead quickly in diversifying Locust Walk and building the Revlon Center, as recommended by the Commission report.