COLUMN: Raise questions, demand answers

From Andrea Ahles's, "Hawaiian Style," Fall '97 From Andrea Ahles's, "Hawaiian Style," Fall '97 Ever since Coopers & Lybrand whiz John Fry was hired as the executive vice president of the University, outsourcing and downsizing has been on many employees minds. As well it should be. Fry was brought in to transform Penn into a lean, mean, university machine. And so far, he's done very well in moving towards that goal. But University administrators have not handled the growing pains of this process adeptly because they have not communicated clearly with the affected employees about what is happening. Trammell Crow, a Dallas-based facility management company, is expected to manage the buildings and facilities across campus for a price tag of about $5.25 million a year, although the company will pay the University $26 million up front and another $6 million later for helping create its higher education services division. Trammell Crow Executive Vice President John Maher estimated his firm would hire between 110-150 people, with the majority of them being former Penn employees ("U. hands over facilities mgmt. to outside firm," DP, 10/9/97). Administrators have described the deal as the best way to simultaneously cut management costs and improve services. And this is something the University needs to be doing. In April 1996, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a series of articles detailing the numerous amounts of administrators there were compared to students. According to the Inquirer articles, Penn has only 29 more full-time students than there were in 1980 but has 1,820 more administrators than the school did that year. Although University President Judith Rodin dismissed the statistically validity of the series, she did say the rising costs of higher education needed to be examined and that the University had already undertaken an aggressive program of administrative streamlining and cost-cutting. ("Rodin justifies U.'s high costs," DP, 4/8/96.) The Trammell Crow contract is part of this administrative streamlining. But employees have every right to be and disturbed by the bombshell the University dropped two weeks ago. The outsourcing of facilities management was completely unexpected. This was not one of the areas traditionally outsourced by universities. If anything, employees expected the Dining Services to be the next area of Penn to be outsourced after management of The Book Store was turned over to Barnes & Nobles. In fact, Trammell Crow is paving the way on Wall Street for the private sector to become involved in facilities management of educational institutions. In November, company executives plan to take the company public, with an initial public offering of its stock. There has been an air of uneasiness at Penn for some time, as some employees wait for their jobs to be downsized or outsourced. This has created an unhealthy and sometimes unproductive workplace for Penn employees. And the surprise announcement of Trammell Crow taking over facilities management at Penn has reinforced the "waiting for the axe to fall" feeling. The University does need to reduce the number of employees. The primary focus of any university should be its academic mission. Administrators shouldn't have to worry about money being spent on facilities maintenance and food service. But if employees want any say in how the University goes about its reduction in force, they need to speak up now. The class-action suit was a step toward reviewing the legality of the University's decision although the suit could be tied up in the courts for a lengthy of period of time. Employees need to keep the pressure on administrators to let them express their opinions during the decision making process not after it. Not just the employees affected by Trammell Crow but all employees. Two informational sessions sponsored by the executive vice president's office are scheduled for today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and next Monday, November 3 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. All employees with questions are strongly urged to attend these sessions. Employees, don't be afraid to ask questions and demand answers from the administrators. And don't back down on the issues you think are important. The communication between the University and its employees needs to improve if administrators hope to follow through with their cost-cutting plans. These are not just numbers administrators are dealing with but real people who depend on the University for their economic livelihood.