SENATE From
the Senate Office
The following statement is published in accordance with the
Senate Rules. Among other purposes, the publication of SEC actions
is intended to stimulate discussion among the constituencies and
their representatives. Please communicate your comments to Executive
Assistant Carolyn Burdon, Box 12 College Hall/6303, (215) 898-6943
or burdon@pobox.upenn.edu.
Actions
Taken by the Senate Executive Committee
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
1.
Chair's Report.
Professor
David Hackney stated that a Provost's committee is nearing completion
of a study on the cost of research at the University. The Faculty
Senate Committee on Administration and the University Council
Committee on Research will review the report. The Senate Executive
Committee will also review it. The Teaching Evaluation Committee
report will be completed later this month and will come to the
Faculty Senate for comment.
2.
Past Chair's Report on Academic Planning and Budget Committee
and Capital Council.
Professor
Gerald Porter reported that there have been four meetings of the
Academic Planning and Budget Committee since October 30, 2001.
At these meetings the committee discussed the external reviews
for the Wharton and Annenberg Schools, Safety and Security Issues
Concerning Penn Undergraduate and Graduate Students Abroad, the
Gender Equity Report and the Administration's Response, a draft
Report from the Committee to Assess the Evaluation of Teaching,
and a presentation on the Cost of Research.
Capital
Council.
Professor Porter reported that Capital Council has met several
times and considered projects such as the refacing of the garage
wall next to the University Museum and the relocation of the sewer
lines under the old Convention Center. In addition, there was
a review of a proposed lease for off-campus space.
3.
Report of the Committee on Gender Equity.
Co-chair
Barbara Lowery presented the report (Almanac
Supplement December 4, 2001) noting that the University
Council Steering Committee had commissioned the study, one-half
of the members were appointed by the Faculty Senate, one-half
by the Provost and the study had taken two years. Professor Lowery
drew attention to the President and Provost's reply (Almanac
Supplement
December 4, 2001) to the report and their commitment to move
forward on improving the problems raised by the report. It was
noted that the ten senior women who departed the School of Arts
and Sciences did not retire but went to other universities. Penn's
hires of new senior faculty are overwhelmingly male. Thus, we
have a pattern of losing senior women and replacing them with
senior men, contributing to the declining proportion of women
as rank increases. Co-chair Phoebe Leboy fielded questions from
Senate Executive Committee members. She noted that review of the
Exit Questionnaire distributed by the Faculty Senate Office to
resigning faculty has had a poor response rate. Women expressed
more dissatisfaction than men but an equal number of men and women
leave Penn to join their spouse at another university. Professor
Leboy emphasized that the Clinician Educator workload is incompatible
with normal family life. Due to the financial situation in the
Health System, this is difficult to change. It has the effect
of disadvantaging women more than men, since women are more likely
to have primary child care responsibilities. In response to a
SEC member's question, Professor Lowery stated that the Provost
does have a fund for deans to respond to outside offers. Most
deans do not use it. There are rules that instruct search committees
to receive instructions and suggestions for conducting searches
that will yield women and minority candidates. However, the committees
rarely avail themselves of this resource.
SEC members thanked Professors Leboy and
Lowery and the Gender Equity Committee members for their hard
work.
Professor
Stephen Burbank, chair, Senate Committee on the Faculty, drew
attention to a case challenging affirmative action at the University
of Michigan. The case is now in the 6th
Circuit
Court of Appeals and will probably move to the U. S. Supreme Court.
He hoped that the University of Pennsylvania would play a major
role in support of affirmative action as it did in the Bakke Case.
4.
Nominating of Senate Nominating Committee.
SEC elected eight faculty, who are not currently SEC members,
to serve on the Nominating Committee as well as one member who
is now on SEC. (See below).
5.
University Investments and the Endowment in the Economic Slowdown.
Vice President for Finance & Treasurer Craig Carnaroli, Chief
Investment Officer Landis Zimmerman, and Associate Vice President
for Finance & Treasury Management Lucy Momjian gave an overview.
For fiscal 2001 ended June 30, the AIF outperformed
its composite benchmark by 13.4%, returning a positive 6.0% versus
a loss of 7.4% for our benchmark portfolio. For comparison, over
the same period a hypothetical portfolio consisting of 70% in
the S&P 500 and 30% in the Lehman Govt/Credit index would
have lost 7.0%. Penn's global equity portfolio contributed the
bulk of this outperformance, returning 8.4% versus losses of 14.9%
for the S&P 500 and 15.4% for the Wilshire 5000. This outperformance
resulted largely from the portfolio's bias toward "value"
stocks and under-exposure to technology, media and telecommunications.
Penn's performance in fiscal 2001 was well
into the top quartile of our peers. The median return among 32
endowments over $1 billion was a loss of 2.4%, and any endowment
returning more than a loss of 0.1% was in the top quartile.
Mr. Carnaroli's office undertook a review
of the effect of economic downturns on the University's finances.
Recessions will not significantly impact tuition but could slightly
increase demand for financial aid. Applications for early adminssion
are up for the year, in spite of the slowing economy. During recessions
there is some exposure in state grants being frozen, but not cut,
exposure in property insurance and in the Health System's costs
incurred due to unreimbursed claims, indigent care and managed
care. Due to the lower investment returns on the endowment, there
will be slower growth in endowment income available for operating
expenses. Although approximately 16% of Penn alumni live in the
New York area, they represent a disproportionately large share
of development funds raised by the University.
6.
Annual Giving Trends.
Vice
President for Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Clark
gave a brief overview. Responding to the Senate Chair, Ms. Clark
said an economic slowdown has negligible affect on annual giving.
In crisis, giving drops but rebounds in a year to higher levels.
Over the last 40 years giving has increased each year with the
exception of 1987. Last year saw the highest level of giving.
A significant number of alumni donors are from the New York City
area and time will tell how the September 11 tragedy affects giving
by these alumni.
Under the Faculty Senate Rules, formal notification
to members may be accomplished by publication in Almanac.
The following is published under that rule:
TO: Members
of the Faculty Senate
FROM: David
Hackney, Chair
SUBJECT: Senate
Nominating Committee
1. In accordance with the requirements
of the Faculty Senate Bylaws, notice is given to the Senate Membership,
i.e. the Standing Faculty and Standing Faculty-Clinician Educators,
of the Senate Executive Committee's 9-member slate of nominees
for the Nominating Committee for 2001-2002. The Nominating Committee
nominates candidates for election to the Offices of the Faculty
Senate, to the at-large and assistant professor positions on the
Senate Executive Committee, and to the Senate Committee on the
Economic Status of the Faculty, the Senate Committee on Academic
Freedom and Responsibility, and the Senate Committee on Conduct.
The nine nominees, all of whom have agreed to serve, are: