Penn works to engage with area

As she walked home from dinner with her boyfriend, Adrienne Benson noticed “UPenn out of West Philadelphia” scrolled in black spray paint on the sidewalk.

Benson, a College senior, said her first reaction was to laugh at the graffiti on Baltimore Avenue near 48th Street.

“Tell us what you really think,” she thought sarcastically to herself.

But she quickly realized the significance of the writing, reflecting on her own community interactions.

She described the skepticism that she met as a political organizer during the 2004 presidential campaign — she felt she was perceived as “this Penn student that doesn’t even live here.”

Although Benson has also had many positive experiences with West Philadelphians, she recognizes a lingering presence of racism and gentrification surrounding Penn. And she is not alone.

Penn reaches out

With the damaged past of urban renewal and displacement still in mind, Penn faculty and administrators by the 1980s had identified the need to reengage with the community.

Outreach began under President Sheldon Hackney, who was the first Penn president to live in West Philadelphia.

But the turning point for Penn’s relationship with its neighbors was the merger of existing programs into the Netter Center for Community Partnerships in 1992.

The Center’s core mission addresses the ability of students and faculty to gain real-world knowledge while also improving community health, education, housing and economic development, according to its founder and Associate Vice President Ira Harkavy.

Most notably, the Center revolutionized service-learning by offering Academically Based Community Service courses to undergraduates and continuing to expand its partnerships with local schools.

Harkavy said the community dynamic has transformed since he was an undergraduate rallying against Penn’s actions.

“Over the past decade, it has improved,” he said. “There is no question.”

Following the Netter Center’s success, Penn began several other initiatives including the formation of University City district in 1997 to organize the resources of the institutions in the area and the city, according to Office of the Executive Vice President spokesman Tony Sorrentino.

In addition, the University constructed the retail areas near the Bookstore and on 40th Street, encouraged faculty residences in West Philadelphia with a forgivable loan program and bought and restored dilapidated housing through the Neighborhood Preservation and Development Fund.

To increase educational opportunities, the University built and subsidized the public Penn Alexander School for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Through the Economic Inclusion Program, the University also allots 20 to 25 percent of each building or supplies contract to minority or women-owned businesses.

Sorrentino explained that Penn administrators, always mindful of the past, consulted with community members before taking these initiatives.

“People will always be critical of our work, but don’t say we didn’t engage in a spirited debate,” he said.

Trouble persists

Despite the positive changes Penn has made in its relationship to West Philadelphia, problems still existed throughout the 1990s and up until present day.

History professor Michael Zuckerman remembers a time during the early 1990s when rumors circulated that wall would be built at 40th Street.

Now, Zuckerman sees this historic barrier dissolving. He senses the changing tone of his students’ essays on their perceptions of the street, which in years past were full of criticism.

“The assignment has lost its bite, its pungency,” he said.

Graduate School of Education Professor John Puckett, however, recalled a more recent incident in that area. After a stray bullet hit a student in 2006, the University put a sign on 40th Street telling students they were protected and should not fear. Flashing lights were also added to Penn Transit vans so students could easily see them from inside buildings and not have to wait outside.

“It suggested the University was in a state of alarm and sent a negative message to West Philadelphia,” he said.

In response, Puckett said, he filed a complaint and spoke with Penn security personnel.

But Walter Palmer, lecturer at the Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice, identified a more fundamental and historical problem with the current state of the relationship.

“Unless there is some real honesty, some real recognition of what took place here, it’s never going to change,” Palmer said in reference to the displacement of African Americans in the 1960s.

“What Penn doesn’t get is that it won’t die,” he added.

Palmer — who grew up in the area where the displacement took place, known as Unit 3 or the “Black Bottom” — said many of the former residents hold a reunion each year in Fairmount Park to keep their history alive.

“We continue to refuse to recognize that area as University City,” he said.

The event, which drew 8,000 people its first year in 1975, is the oldest and largest community reunion in the history of Philadelphia.

Although she is proud of the progress the University has made in engaging with its neighbors, member of the Netter Center Community Advisory Board Frances Walker believes some uneasiness may remain.

“It’s hard to erase distrust,” she said.

Walker, the Advisory Board’s first chairwoman and long-time resident, said she has worked tirelessly — even forgoing a salary — to improve the relationship, but still sees pressing needs.

“[The University] should stop shying away from controversial subjects, like racism and poverty,” she said.

Students react

Although a growing number of students are participating in community service, many still consider Penn its own bubble.

Wharton senior Elizabeth Schneider said she does not believe students are aware of the area’s history or necessarily want to engage in it.

“People’s only concerns are how it affects them on campus,” she said.

But other students disagree.

College Junior and civic scholar Jayne Bernsten believes it is up to students themselves to volunteer.

“Penn couldn’t offer more ways for students to get involved,” she said. “If students want the opportunity, it’s definitely there for them.”

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