Perelman silent on funding new student center

U. officials anxiously wait University administrators are anxiously awaiting a concrete indication that University Trustee Ronald Perelman will support the student center project already bearing his name, but so far Perelman has kept silent. As the potential primary donor for the Perelman Quadrangle, Perelman, a University alumnus, has yet to commit any money to the new project. In November 1988, Perelman pledged $10 million in seed money to the Revlon Center plan which has now been scrapped. University officials do not know when he will decide whether to support the new project. If Perelman does not agree to the project, administrators say they do not have a back-up method for obtaining funding. "We don't have a contingency plan," University President Judith Rodin said at a Graduate and Professional Students Assembly meeting last night. "We hope we won't need one." Perelman is chairman and chief executive officer of both New York's MacAndrews and Forbes Group, Inc. and the Revlon Group, Inc. He graduated from the Wharton School in 1964 and received his MBA from Wharton in 1966. According to Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Clark, Perelman has not given the University any indication as to whether he will support the change in plans. "There isn't any new information," Clark said yesterday. "It's still the same status -- nothing has changed." And any plans to begin further work on the Perelman Quad will not continue until Perelman agrees to the project. Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow knew they would have to obtain Perelman's commitment to the project when they first decided to scrap the Revlon Center plan in favor of the new proposal, which would use Logan Hall, Houston Hall and Williams Hall, along with Irvine Auditorium. Rodin and Chodorow had hoped to wait to release the Perelman Quad plans until they received the go-ahead from the primary contributor. But last month, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported the campus center change, and the administration has since presented the full plan to students, faculty and staff in various settings. The new plans include renovating existing space to allow for more meeting, performing, rehearsal and study space in the four buildings. The walkway between the buildings would undergo landscaping changes to create a larger plaza area and a two-story glass atrium would be built connecting Logan and Williams Hall. The Perelman Quad, however, is little more than an idea without the primary donor officially backing it. And Chodorow said last month that the project would cost between $53 and $60 million. Rodin and Chodorow said although they were still waiting to hear from Perelman, they are optimistic about his response. According to Chodorow, the project will take 36 months to complete once it is begun. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Andrea Ahles contributed to this article.