We want to share a very positive year-end update with our petition signers. Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives just sent a strong signal to UPenn by voting on December 13 to halt funding to UPenn's veterinary school.
In reaction to UPenn’s lack of immediate changes and dilatory tactics in addressing antisemitism on UPenn’s campus, members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives halted $31 million in state funding from UPenn's School of Veterinary Medicine. Penn Vet has reportedly received state funding since 1889.
As we begin the New Year, we also remind our petition signers of three relatively unknown UPenn incidents that indicate the absolute need to monitor UPenn and the Board of Trustees’ silence or hollow statements in addressing antisemitism and enforcing codes of conduct and local laws.
1) Incendiary campus religious leader: No statement has yet been made by anyone in Penn’s Administration or by UPenn’s Chaplaincy after incendiary statements and Holocaust remarks were posted on social media by the Muslim Chaplain.
Meanwhile, read how others recently responded to a chaplain for a similar situation at another university, Western University.
This firing decision was endorsed by both the Western University President and a leader in that school’s equity, diversity and inclusion division: "His comments do not align with Western's commitment to peaceful and respectful dialogue," wrote Western's president Alan Shepard and Opiyo Oloya, associate vice-president of equity, diversity and inclusion in the co-signed statement.
2) Trespassing. UPenn refused to enforce local trespassing laws when The Freedom School for Palestine took over a part of UPenn’s student building, Houston Hall.
Setting aside the standard enforcement policies in place for campuses where trespassing occurs, look no further than what happened to students at Brown University when they refused to abide by trespassing laws:
After students were arrested at Brown, the University also warned of more severe consequences if students did not respect restrictions on the time and location of campus protests. “The disruption to secure buildings is not acceptable, and the University is prepared to escalate the level of criminal charges for future incidents of students occupying secure buildings,” Brown said.
3) Vandalism: When vandalism of UPenn property occurred and was fortunately covered by a national media outlet, UPenn promised these incidents would be investigated and offenders prosecuted. The University’s Division of Public Safety is apparently still reviewing video footage to identify those who committed these crimes weeks ago. Can or should we expect updates from UPenn’s administration? Should local or state police help the UPenn Administration’s public safety team review the footage?
While there may be legitimate reasons to selectively enforce violated school codes of conduct, employment agreements/covenants, and local laws meant to protect all members of our Community and the University’s property, we are currently unaware of any. Therefore, we want the Administration or the Board to enforce our codes and laws equally and without bias or explain publicly why they apparently don't think it’s wise to do so.
WISHING ALL OF US A HEALTHY AND BETTER NEW YEAR!
PLEASE FORWARD OUR PETITION: https://chng.it/TCgbfB8qXr