LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Whose University is this?

To the Editor: Is the University of Pennsylvania its employees -- i.e., the president, provost, middle management, and faculty, or is it the Board of Trustees, or student body, and/or the alumni? Some have suggested that a university is a partnership consisting of a consortium of the above. If that be so, I suggest that Penn alumni are clearly limited (rather than general) partners, who have always been liable for 100 percent of all losses that other parties created, and who hardly share any profits. ?[T]he strongest argument can be made that both the heart and soul of Penn really resides in the tens of thousands of interested and concerned alumni, especially those alumni whose family (like mine, and my extended family) has, from generation to generation, matriculated at Penn. These are the people who were fiscally responsible for the recent unprecedented success of fund-raising efforts. And yes, these are the people who remain a constant positive factor and who are always present to pull many chestnuts out of the fire, to repair damage to the University and its image caused by illegal, immoral and/or unethical conduct of University employees (from top to bottom), and above all, replace the millions of dollars that are periodically squandered by staff and an occasional Board of Trustee member by reason of malfeasance, misfeasance, [or] negligence? From time to time, we, the alumni, have encountered devastating Penn-related front-page regional and national headlines in such matters as?the water buffalo adventure, the New Era Foundation scam, and most recently, the HUP fiasco. Those who have caused loss to Penn rarely acknowledge wrongdoing, rarely compensate the University for economic loss, and are rarely suitably punished by their superiors or the Penn leadership for their transgressions. These headlines cannot be suppressed by a combination of University censorship and public relations spins. No matter who runs the University, it appears that Penn's byword is "business as usual." Alumni encourage the next generation of qualified students to enroll despite the horrendous, never-ending events that give rise to the negative headlines. We also try to persuade a substantial number of turned-off alumni from withdrawing their economic and other support that helps the University function. From a legal prospective, as with every non-profit organization, the president, provost, and faculty are employees of an entity. As employees, they must be accountable only to the entity even if they also wear other hats, such as those of alumnae. In this regard, they should be disqualified from functioning as judges and/or jurors when alleged wrongdoing occurs that is denied or disputed. They almost always have potential personal conflicts of interest whenever they take, or most often choose not to take, action? Students come and go every few years and have a very short institutional life span. This leaves only some portion of the alumni scattered throughout the world who have a non-conflicted, long range, genuine, ongoing feeling for Penn's success and well-being. Many of these unheralded and unrecognized alumni devote more time and effort as volunteers than do some members of the rubber stamp, essentially self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. Penn alumni rewards, such as the Award of Merit, are few and cost the "University" nothing. The title of Associate Trustee meant a lot to many alumni, including me. The elimination of the title was most unwarranted. Dr. Rodin was quoted in the DP article saying that "we" hope the alumni understand. I, for one, do not understand, nor do I understand who is "we." I do, however, understand that current events again point to the urgency for the potential army of concerned Penn alumni to step forward and take back the University from those who have a passing, limited, and perhaps conflicted, interest in it. It's time for the old guard and future old guard, with or without recognition, to personally start guarding the store! Jerome Apfel Law '54 Past President, Law Alumni Society (Editor's note: This letter was also sent to The Pennsylvanian Gazette.)