LETTERS: Increase communication for Trammell Crow deal

To the Editor. Over the past few years we have seen a continual decline in employee morale as the uncertainty of the new Penn world has taken hold of this campus. For years, the University has fostered among its employees a feeling of community and family. The suddenness of the Trammel Crow announcement has once and for all shattered that mind set. Looking back upon the mission statement of Executive Vice President John Fry when he came to Penn, none of us should be surprised that this has happened. It was made very clear that all areas and units of the University were on review. We now know this to be true, we now know the only safe jobs at Penn are those of tenured faculty. However, we do not know the criteria that goes into any of these review processes. Each of us has been told to do more with less. We all feel we are doing just that, so how do we judge whether our efforts will save our jobs or not? We, as administrators, deserve to know how we are being judged. This is the type of communication which has been lacking during this entire process. PPSA supports the proposal made by the A-3 Assembly calling for scheduled updates before University Council from the EVP on this ongoing evaluative process. We would like to know what other areas are prime targets for outsourcing. And most importantly we need to know what we in those targeted areas can do to stave off outsourcing. PPSA feels it is important for more staff to be included in understanding information on the benchmarks used to determine what gets outsourced, in terms of customer service, financial return, cost avoidance so that each unit at least knows what they are trying to accomplish relative to the market. In conjunction with the Trammell Crow announcement, we are pleased to see the prompt scheduling of resume-writing workshops and job-interview training. We would like to see both of these programs, as well as programs centered around enhanced change management and/or careerplanning seminars become part of the overall program offered by the University's Office of Training and Organizational Development. It is something we all need to be aware of. We hope Trammell Crow keeps its word and retains many of the talented people affected by this process. For those seeking other jobs at Penn, we would like to see "preferential" status given to any affected employee in their efforts to find another job at Penn. We have hundreds of job openings on campus, why can't these affected employees who meet the job requirements be given first shot at these jobs? PPSA is holding and open meeting surrounding this issue and its affect on the campus with John Fry on Monday, November 3, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Bodek Lounge of Houston Hall. We invite all members of the A-1 community to attend. Jim Bean Manager, Mail Services Chairperson, Penn Professional Staff Assembly Executive Board u To the Editor: Executive Vice President John Fry's column ("Trammell Crow deal makes sense," DP, 10/23/97) was remarkably light on relevant facts and completely avoided the main issue in the controversy over the Trammell Crow contract. His "three reasons" for the Trammell Crow deal are reasons for changing how Penn does facilities maintenance; they are not reasons for contracting out that operation, much less reasons for contracting it out to that particular company. And his further explanations of what kind of benefits he and Trammell Crow have worked out for Penn's soon-to-be-former employees merely highlight the biggest problem: all of this working out is being done without the participation of the people most affected -- the employees involved and the people who live and work in the University's buildings. Fry says he is "committed" to providing "consultation with the Penn community." Perhaps the Executive Vice President does not understand the difference between "consultation" and "notification." Consulting with people means involving them in decisions about what's going to be done and how; it doesn't mean telling them what you've done after you're finished. If this administration is truly committed to "consultation with the Penn community," they would do well to show some sign of practicing it. This Trammell Crow deal is not the first time Fry and University President Judith Rodin have shut the community out of important University decision. Let us make it the last time. John Hogan Staff, Biddle Law Library VPUL's portion of the General Fee To the Editor: I very much enjoyed reading the DP's articles on the student General Fee, ("U. breaks down General Fee," and "SAC finds modest satisfaction with release of Gen. Fee data," DP, 10/28/97) but I wanted to make sure that students have two additional pieces of information. First, the vice provost for University life does not allocate funding for student activities. Student activities monies are directly allocated by students themselves. Once student activities funding is allocated by the provost, student leadership groups themselves allocate these funds. Student Activities Council Chairperson Steve Schorr can give students information on how undergraduate student activities are allocated by SAC. Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and Graduate Student Associations Council can give students information on how they allocate graduate and professional student central student activities funds. Also, I meet periodically with the Undergraduate Assembly, GAPSA and many other student organizations on VPUL programs and funding and, every year, I have given, for example, UA members detailed information on VPUL departments and information available on VPUL fund expenditures. We in the VPUL annually target VPUL programming initiatives towards areas identified by students, as areas in which they feel are important priorities for Penn students! There is no higher program priority in the VPUL division! Lastly, I strongly endorse student activities funding and applaud Schorr's efforts to work with all members of the University community to continue to give information to all about the importance of student activities funds to the life and livelihood of a vibrant Penn student community. Valerie Swain-Cade McCoullum Vice Provost of University Life Confidential Women's Health exams To the Editor: When my daughter Pamela Rapoport told me about the billing changes and resulting confidentiality problems at Women's Health, I was shocked. Reading the details later in The Weekly Pennsylvanian to which I subscribe was even worse. Free on-campus access to information about and care for gynecological and sexual health is expected on college campuses today. When I was at Penn in the early 1970s, we weren't lucky enough to have a separate Women's Health department. But we weren't lucky enough to have AIDS either. At Penn such confidential care has not only been promised to women, but also has been paid for as part of the student fee which covers care at Student Health. Women's Health is merely a part of Student Health. In a perfect world all daughters would be totally open with their parents and would use them as their first source of information, advice, and emotional support. I'd like to think I have that with both my daughters. But this is not a perfect world. And if my daughters, and other parents' daughters, choose to maintain their privacy while being responsible adults, I want Penn's Women's Health to be there for them -- free the way it used to be. I know that saving money is important and that tuition keeps rising. After all, Pamela is the second daughter for whom I'm paying full tuition at Penn. But to save money at the cost of our daughters' health is not the answer. I propose a compromise for those students who are on their parents' insurance policies and whose privacy could be violated. Give women a choice. Bill the insurance company only if a student gives permission. For those who want privacy, let the University continue to pick up the tab. Many students are on extremely tight budgets. Asking them to pay out-of-pocket for routine birth control information and gynecological exams in order to maintain confidentiality is simply not acceptable. Lauren Winick Rapoport College of Women '73 Penn Parent '96 and '00