Fels government program faces review to determine its future organization

New York, N.Y. The University still has not made any long-term decisions about the future of the Fels Center of Government, and the program will continue to function in its current state until any decisions are made, according to University President Judith Rodin. The Fels Center has been under review for the past academic year to determine whether it should be continued and in what form. In December, an external review committee recommended not to abolish the center, although administrators have not decided whether to accept the panel's recommendation. "The one thing that came out loud and clear is that [the panel] thought that we would not be a great university if we did not have a program in government administration," said Hack, whose school houses the Fels program. The committee also examined several of the difficulties Fels faces. Fels student Mark Siedband, who heads his class's internal government, said the program does not have the necessary prestige to compete with other schools. "Most [Fels graduates] put on their resumes 'master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania' rather than Fels because it just does not have the name recognition," he said. Hack added that competition from Harvard, Yale and Princeton may cause another of the school's problems -- low enrollment. Fifty-five students are currently enrolled in the Fels program, but this is only two-thirds of total number of students enrolled in past years. Mulhern said he attributes the drop to a lack of recruitment last winter during the upheaval following the sudden resignation of then-Director James Spady. "When I came in January, we didn't have a new class and that is very late to begin recruiting a new class," Mulhern said. Hack said that while the program's size should be expanded through additional recruitment, he would also like to see more students from other graduate schools taking classes in Fels. Under the current system of decentralized funding for the University's schools, if students wish to take classes outside of their home school, that school must pay a fee to the desired program. Additionally, if a school wishes to use a professor based in another program, that school must supplement the professor's salary. This system, according to Hack, removes any incentive for schools to encourage students to take advantage of classes at other schools. He called the system especially detrimental to the Fels program, which is seeking to diversify its class offerings and would benefit from a class taught by a Wharton or Social Work professor. Hack proposed an alternate system in which Fels could borrow a professor from another graduate school in exchange for allowing a certain number of students in that school take a class in Fels. The panel made several recommendations for relocating the school, and while Hack declined to comment on the recommendations, he admitted that Fels may not belong in his school. "Fels is unlike anything else we do at the GSFA," Hack said. "In that sense, for their benefit, it seems to me that it might be better served by a different school." But Mulhern said the program's needs are well-served under the auspices of the GSFA. Hack said he hopes decisions on the committee's recommendations will be made by the end of the month. Final programming decisions will clear the way for selection of a new director for the program. In the meantime, Fels operations are "pushing on," and and program coordinators are waiting for the administrative directives resulting from the committee's recommendations, according to Mulhern. And the recommendation to continue the program came as welcome news to Fels students. "The program is one of Penn's best kept secrets," Fels student Lance Rogers said. "Whereas the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton and the Kennedy School at Harvard teach governmental theory, the Fels program adds a unique dynamic -- a hands-on approach towards governing." But Rogers bemoaned the program's lack of adequate facilities and poor class variety. And Siedband said Fels would benefit from more national recruiting and a more rigorous program.

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