Announcements

We are deeply troubled by the Administration’s recent moves to restrict entry of certain international students and scholars into the United States. This is a major setback not only for higher education, but for our country as a whole. We need to welcome the widest range of individuals to our shores. For almost two centuries, we have unequivocally welcomed an impressive array of international students and scholars to Penn. It is simply a fact that global engagement is beneficial to our Commonwealth and nation, and certainly to our University.

We are enormously pleased that the Supreme Court today has preserved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a program that we have long supported and consistently advocated for. DACA students have had great success at Penn and have gone on to make invaluable contributions to our community and nation. We are proud to have them as students and alumni, and to support their aspirations to share in the American Dream. I am so pleased that this decision will relieve them of the burden of doubt that they have been forced to carry for the past few years.

This Juneteenth, when our country is reckoning with the racism and discrimination that permeated the history of our country and universities for centuries, we reflect on what we can do to dismantle systemic and structural barriers to equality.  

The Supreme Court decision is a step toward equity and justice for all LGBTQ people and the community.

As we approach the final weeks of the current fiscal year, we are writing to update you on the financial challenges presented by COVID-19. Our principal goal is to provide transparency into the fiscal realities and uncertainties we must confront as a community. Last week, the Board of Trustees approved the operating budgets and capital plans for fiscal year 2021 (FY21). We write today to share a summary of the financial information provided to the Board of Trustees.

Earlier this week, the Division’s senior administrators and I met virtually with approximately 30 Black student-athletes at Penn in an honest, collaborative, and impactful dialog regarding their experience as a student-athlete. As a Division, we admit we have not done enough to take an active stand against racism and are firmly committed to becoming an organization that is truly antiracist.

Last week, President Gutmann called on our community to join in grieving the deaths of George Floyd and too many others and to commit to being part of a positive change. I am writing today to reaffirm her call to duty and follow up with additional next steps. 

The University of Pennsylvania frequently examines the role of standardized testing in college admissions, including the SAT and ACT. We see these tests as one piece of a more comprehensive evaluation process that considers individual students in the context of their academic and personal experiences.

Words cannot adequately convey the anger, grief and frustration that we are all experiencing during this difficult time for our city and country. Yet out of our despair, we can also perceive hope.

Once again our nation mourns. The tragic and senseless death of George Floyd is a vivid reminder of the inequalities and unacceptable indignities that so many of our citizens constantly endure. The events in Minneapolis this week should lead everyone to recognize how much more work our society must do to realize liberty and justice for all. As a nation we have much work to do.