Penn looks to restart weekly-paid staff assembly after years-long vacancy

Penn is working to rebuild a weekly-paid staff organization after several years without employees serving in its designated University governance positions.

The Penn Professional Staff Assembly is seeking six to 10 employees to form an interim board for the Weekly-Paid Professional Staff Assembly, which will establish the group’s governance structure and meeting procedures. Formal elections are planned for June 2027 alongside the PPSA’s regular election cycle, according to a Sept. 8 announcement.

A request for comment was left with PPSA.

According to the WPPSA website, the organization’s goal is “to create opportunities for full-time, weekly-paid professional staff to discuss and contribute to various University issues, through appointed positions on University committees.”

WPPSA represents full-time, non-union employees who are paid weekly. Penn classifies weekly-paid staff as non-exempt employees who record the hours they work and are eligible for overtime. PPSA, by contrast, represents monthly-paid professional staff, who are generally classified as exempt and salaried.

The University determines whether an employee is weekly or monthly paid based on their role.

Under its most recently published bylaws, which were revised in November 2021, WPPSA represented weekly-paid staff through an executive board and representatives serving on University Council committees. Those committees included the committees on Open Expression, Personnel Benefits, Campus and Community Life, Diversity and Equity, Facilities, and Academic and Related Affairs.

WPPSA is also allocated two elected seats on the Council. The Council’s roster for the 2025-26 academic year listed both the WPPSA chair and chair-elect positions as vacant. The 2024-25 roster similarly listed WPPSA representation as vacant.

The organization retained some representation during the 2022-23 academic year. One WPPSA member was identified as a representative in the Council’s membership roster, while the organization’s second seat went unfilled.

Among the positions assigned to WPPSA is a seat on Penn’s Committee on Open Expression, which interprets the University’s Guidelines on Open Expression.

The currently published guidelines prescribe a 17-member committee that includes two representatives from PPSA and one from WPPSA. However, the 2026-27 Committee on Open Expression only has 16 members — eight faculty members, six students, and two PPSA representatives — and no WPPSA representative.

The efforts to revitalize WPPSA come as Penn considers revisions to its open expression guidelines. The draft released in March proposed a 13-member committee that would include a weekly-paid staff member selected by the provost after receiving recommendations from WPPSA or an equivalent organization.

That proposal has not yet taken effect. The University is targeting the Nov. 18 Council meeting for presentation of revised guidelines, with implementation tentatively scheduled for Jan. 1, 2027.

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