This week, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education released its vision for academics at Penn -- and relatively few on campus have even heard of it.
"I have no idea what it is," Wharton freshman Joshua Daniels said of the 2005 White Paper, a 23-page report of ideas for improving education at Penn.
It is published every five years as a comprehensive analysis of the University's undergraduate educational experience.
According to incoming SCUE Chairman and Engineering sophomore Gabe Kopin, the White Paper is intended to be read by "every constituent of the University of Pennsylvania who is interested in undergraduate education," including faculty, administrators, students and alumni.
But few faculty members or students have even seen a copy of the White Paper.
"I haven't read the White Paper, but I read The Daily Pennsylvanian's account of it," Political Science Department Chair Rogers Smith said.
Engineering sophomore Tal Raviv showed interest in reading the paper but said he did not know where to get a copy.
But the lack of student awareness did not come as a surprise to College senior and outgoing SCUE Chairwoman Farrah Freis.
"We haven't really started the big push to have students engaged in this," Freis said. "We're excited to do that next week."
SCUE will hold a town hall meeting for student feedback on the White Paper as part of the organization's Education Week.
But even students who were hand-delivered copies of the report did not necessarily read it.
Members of the Undergraduate Assembly received copies of it at their Sunday meeting.
UA member and College freshman Ben Cirlin said that he had not yet read the paper but would eventually, and UA member and College freshman Hayling Price said he "browsed through it."
Students not involved with the UA had far less knowledge of the document.
College sophomore Nick Petts incorrectly thought that the White Paper was a review of SCUE's accomplishments.
College freshman Erik Arnetz had no knowledge of the existence of either SCUE or its report.
The White Paper has been distributed to about 70 student leaders, administrators and faculty so far.
Copies of the paper, as well as a five-page summary of it, are currently available on SCUE's Web site and will soon be placed in Houston Hall.
Kopin hopes the document will get students talking about the quality of their education.
He said that he only expects administrators to "see what the status quo is" on Penn's curriculum.
"If anyone wants to act on what's there, great," Kopin said.
He added that SCUE has been relying on word of mouth to publicize the document.
"We had it printed and delivered under a week ago," Kopin said. "We're still working on distributing it. Give it an extra week or two."
