GUEST COLUMNIST: Navigating the future of U., West Philadelphia

As a result of these changes, students will be able to sit back and read best sellers at Barnes & Noble. Meanwhile, new employees will be making little above minimum wage. Some of Dining Services' staff will be laid off as it seeks to make itself more efficient. But students will think nothing of joining their resident college house faculty for dinner. More white and upperclass residents will move into University City, seeking the ambiance that Penn offers. And a number of poor and likely African-American residents will move out or become homeless. Students will pass daily through Civic House checking out what they can help with in the coming week. While positive and negative aspects exist to these changes, the detrimental effects of Penn's actions disproportionately fall on West Philadelphia's predominately poor African-American population. Because there are no easy alternatives to bettering our surroundings, Penn has again resorted to gentrifying it. Creativity is in order if the University is really committed to making a difference. Right now, the University offers a reduced mortgage program to encourage facility and some staff to live in nearby neighborhoods. Perhaps this program could be extended to employees, especially low income ones, in the new businesses Penn is attracting. Furthermore, maybe the University could exert some of its pull with city officials and ensure their property evaluations and taxes are not escalated ruinously for longtime, especially African-American, residents of our community. Expanding educational opportunities is also critical for helping residents of West Philadelphia. One way to accomplish this would be to permit staff other than professors to use tuition supplements at the University or elsewhere for themselves and their families. Moreover, perhaps these supplements could be used to study for GEDs or attend trade school as well as college. Through the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center, the Wharton Small Business Development Center offers a number of innovative programs to generate opportunities for the surrounding community. Making this service readily available to West Philadelphia residents might enable more of them to become self-sufficient. The creation of the Civic House will provide another avenue for volunteer efforts to be more in sync than they currently are. Penn Volunteer Network groups will be able to reduce their overlap and assist each other in achieving their goals. Neighborhood residents will know where they can find tutors or request assistance with clean-ups. Perhaps each of the college houses could have a monthly volunteer event. Hopefully, more fraternities, sororities and other groups on campus will adopt volunteer projects or encourage their members to participate in volunteer groups on campus. Students in the expanding choice of service-learning courses at Penn could participate in more service opportunities. A valid complaint is that if Penn were to institute some of the above programs, it would promote an artificial community with predetermined politically correct values. Yet, what kind of values is it expressing if it does nothing significantly different than in the past for the West Philadelphia community? My ideas are not perfect, but these and other ways to help West Philadelphia must be sought. Each of these steps would make the resources and opportunities that Penn has more available to West Philadelphians and promote the stable and secure community we all desire. They counteract the outsourcing of the Book Store and facilities' management and the concurrent reduction in benefits. Searching for and implementing programs such as these would acknowledge that as members of the University, we must contribute to making a difference.