Who’s Who of the Penn Trustees

by Fossil Free Penn

While the President is the face of Penn, the Board of Trustees is the actual decision makers. The Board of Trustees is Penn’s government. They choose the President, manage the endowment, and oversee all aspects of Penn. The Board does this with no outside checks, voting process, accountability, or even transparency on how they come to their decisions.

The Board of Trustees is an anti-democratic body which bars full time students and employees from serving on the Board. Trustee members serve on the nominating committee responsible for choosing new trustees, thus continuing a legacy of a board composed of the rich white male. The Board of Trustees strive for sameness: a lack of challenge to the existing power structures and fundraising for the University by any means necessary. 

The Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Association are the only official avenues through which students can make recommendations to the Trustees and other University administrators. This means that in order for students to make recommendations to the Board, they have to either be elected or dedicate their time to have a position on the assemblies listed above. Any student not in these assemblies would have to talk to a representative and hope the message is passed along to the trustees. 

In particular, the Board of Trustees appoints and controls the Investment Board, which holds power and responsibility over all of Penn’s investments, including the University’s $20.5 billion endowment. The Investment Board, and the Office of Investments’ chief goal is to maximize returns on the endowment no matter the consequences for the Philly community and world at large. During the global COVID pandemic, a time of mass recession, Penn’s endowment grew by more than $6 billion. Meanwhile, in May 2020, the Board of Trustees furloughed 100 Bon Apetitit dining workers without pay. 

During the pandemic, the city of Philadelphia lost so much. For example, the number of jobs in Philadelphia was 7.6% lower than in 2019, while the national average was only lower by 2.6%. Yet, Penn continues to operate as a business first and foremost. Penn chose to further their own wealth during COVID at the expense of the residents of Philadelphia, including their own employees. 

Who are the Trustees?

Here are some key facts about the Trustees:

• Only TWO trustees out of 56 live in the City of Philadelphia
• Tom Wolf, who is the only governor of Pennsylvania, is the only trustee that works in the public sector
• All of the trustees on the Investment Board work in finance, aside from the president of the University

Several Trustees have conspicuous ties to the prison industrial complex and fossil fueled violence:

Why do they matter?

The Board of Trustees “serves as a bridge between the University and the world,” yet they do not represent the students, faculty, or staff of Penn nor the Philly community. The Trustees focus on generating wealth for themselves and the University, absent a connection or concern for the surrounding community. 

Imagine a governing body that democratically represents the Penn and Philly community. How would this impact the student, faculty, and staff experience? How would this change Penn’s effects on the Philly community and the world?

As long as Penn is run by people who profit from exploitation, our University will continue to follow in their suit, destroying the Philly community.