Penn's Board of Trustees convened yesterday for the first time this academic year to debate long-term issues ranging from balancing the University's budget to construction projects all over campus.
But combating the recent increase in crime on campus is one of the trustees' top priorities -- and they want students to feel the effects of their decisions as soon as possible.
The trustees' External Affairs Committee -- which analyzes coverage of Penn in national media and is chaired by NBC news correspondent and Trustee Andrea Mitchell -- named the recent increase in crime as a major battle the Division of Public Safety must fight.
According to Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush, crime on Penn's campus is up 17 percent compared to this time last year.
University President Amy Gutmann said she will not rest until that number goes down. She said the problem is so pressing that she plans to highlight it in her address to the full board this morning.
"I won't rest assured until I really see that over a long period of time we have been successful in bringing the crime level down," Gutmann said in an interview. "We have to do more, and we are doing more."
University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said the "safety issues around campus" have generated a small amount of negative media coverage for the University.
Last week, for example, Philadelphia television station WPVI-TV ran a prime-time story on crime at Penn, calling the recent increase "part of an upward trend in the city's crime rate."
The External Affairs Committee heard a presentation from Rush on DPS initiatives to curb crime, including a plan to post stationary Penn Police officers at intersections throughout campus.
Rush added that an additional $1 million added to the DPS budget will help pay for more Penn Police officers to patrol campus between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. each night.
"We have had a challenging time that started at the end of spring semester," Rush said. "The fear on campus has unfortunately escalated because of" the recent increase in crime.
