Vague job post may be for top Penn Dining official

The ad, placed by a firm hired by Penn, may have important implications for Dining. Wanted: A food service director/administrator to manage "a major east coast research and teaching university with over 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students." Contact The Cornyn Fasano Group by March 1 for details. This vague job posting -- which was posted on the National Association for College and University Food Service's Web site last week -- has Dining employees buzzing and administrators saying little. In October of 1996, the University hired the Cornyn Fasano consulting firm to review campus dining services and issue recommendations on late-night dining options, campus catering, athletic concessions and dining at the Perelman Quadrangle. Next month, administrators will determine whether to outsource dining to the Philadelphia-based Aramark, the California-based Bon Appetit or maintain it under Penn management, according to Marie Witt, director of support services for Penn's Business Services. Witt noted that administrators are scheduled to meet twice more with members of the Food Services Steering Committee -- comprised of students, faculty and staff -- before finalizing their decision. But according to some Dining employees, statistical similarities between Penn and the university described in the National Association for College and University Food Service's ad cannot be readily dismissed. "It's my job description," Executive Director of Hospitality Services Donald Jacobs said, citing the job qualifications listed in the advertisement. "[Cornyn Fasano] could assume that since I'm 65, I'm retiring. "It sure does look like Penn," he added. Cornyn Fasano officials failed to return repeated phone calls over a period of several days. But Vice President for Business Services Steve Murray insisted that the University has made no decision on whether to outsource Dining, adding that Cornyn Fasano may be requesting applications on behalf of a number of schools that it consults with along the East Coast. The listing, however, specifies a job opportunity at only one "university." Jacobs said a spokesperson for Cornyn Fasano refused to comment to him on whether Penn authorized the firm to place the advertisement. The spokesperson said his company consults for Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in addition to Penn, Jacobs said. But Yale's total enrollment was 10,982 students in 1997, and 10,000 students were enrolled at MIT in 1996, according to the universities' Web sites. Only Penn's enrollment hovers around the 22,000 mentioned in the ad, with last year's total at 21,869, according to the Office of Admissions. Asked if Penn authorized Cornyn Fasano to place the listing, Murray hesitated before saying "no comment." But he added that "it is not inconceivable that [Penn] would want someone with these qualifications." Both Jacobs and Director of Dining Services William Canney expressed concern that their jobs may be placed in jeopardy if the listing is indeed for Penn, adding that the University did not inform them of the posting. "Communication is flowing, but I'm not sure where," Canney said. He added that every line in the ad is "subject to interpretation." Indeed, Jacobs speculated that the "contracted/leased operations" listed under the posting's job "responsibilities" section could refer to the Perelman Quadrangle, while the "self-operated functions" phrase may indicate that the University has already decided not to outsource Dining -- unbeknownst to the Steering committee, which Canney heads. Canney noted that if the ad was for Penn, "I'll certainly apply [for the position]." "But I don't know what I'm applying for," he added. And according to Jacobs-- a former National Association for College and University Food Service member -- the association has not placed an advertisement without an attached University logo in the over two decades he has been in food service. Although Murray would not confirm that the ad was intended for Penn, he did say that if someone is hired for a similar position to the one described in the ad, that person "would not be a replacement for Canney." Murray added that Penn may be "interested" in the applicants who respond to the ad once it reaches that point in the decision-making process, "but we're not there yet." When given a hard-copy of the posting, Penn Executive Vice President John Fry said that he "didn't know about this," and would consult with Murray today. But he stressed the need for solid management of Dining. "Whether [Penn] outsources everything, outsources some of it or outsources none of it, we need a strong food services czar on campus," he said.