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1971-1972 Report of the Office of the Ombudsman

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1971-1972 Report of the Office of the Ombudsman • Economic Status of Faculty (Meyerson, Reitz) • COMMISSION: Three-Year Plan • SENATE: Structure of Senate; Fall Meeting • First Annual Report of the Ombudsman Volume 19, Number 6 October 3, 1972 • DEATHS • GRANTS • WATS for the University Published weekly by the University of Pennsylvania Open Letter: The Search for a Provost TO: The Students, Faculty, Alumni, Administration, and Trustees of the University From: The Consultative Committee to Advise the President on the Selection of a Provost Date: October 2, 1972 The Consultative Committee for the selection of a new Provost is now searching for qualified candidates and invites nominations from the University Community. The Provost serves as the chief academic officer of the Uni­ versity and, as such, has primary responsibility for the quality of both teaching and research. His influence over academic standards is maintained through his review of proposals re­ lating to the appointment, tenure and promotion of all faculty members with the rank of assistant professor or above and through his recommendations to the President concerning the appointment of departmental chairmen and deans. Furthermore, in his role as budgetary officer he reviews proposals for new academic programs, for the expansion of existing programs, NEWS IN BRIEF and for the retention of old programs. The Provost's day-to-day decisions affect primarily the inter­ HARRISBURG VOTES YES ests and welfare of the faculty but they also affect students The State appropriation of $13.8 million to the University indirectly through the quality of the faculty attracted and re­ cleared the General Assembly with approval by the Senate tained and through his budgetary impact on programs. The Thursday. Provost is the chief administrative spokesman for the faculty and students. PSYCHOLOGY: SOLOMON ASCH We earnestly request your assistance in bringing suitable Dr. Solomon E. Asch, who has been Distinguished Pro­ candidates to the attention of the Committee and in providing fessor of Psychology and Director of the Institute of Cogni­ brief and pertinent biographical information (vita). as well tive Studies at Rutgers, has joined the University of Penn­ as a concise statement which relates each nominee's qualifi­ sylvania faculty. cations to the responsibilities and functions of the Provost's Dr. Asch, described by Psychology Department Chairman office. The information should go beyond mere names and Burton Rosner as "one of the most distinguished psycholo­ random biographical facts. Those submitting nominations gists of our time," is teaching undergraduate students as a should state clearly why they believe the particular man or visiting professor this year and will be Professor of Psychol­ woman would be qualified for the office of Provost. All nom­ ogy beginning July, 1973. inations and accompanying data should be directed to Mr. His appointment brings to four the number of psychology William G. Owen, Secretary of the University, 112 College faculty members here who hold the Distinguished Scientific Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Contribution Award of the American Psychological Associ­ 19104. They should be submitted prior to October 15. ation. Drs. Dorothea and Leo M. Hurvich ( 1972) and Dr. Members of Consultative Committee: Richard Solomon (1962) are the other three. Dr. Asch's work on forming impressions of personality and Dr. Robert Austrian Mr. John Jasinski on group conformity pressures have each been among the Dr. Malcolm Campbell Mr. Alan Krensky most imitated research designs of our generation, the A.P.A.'s Dr. Barry S. Cooperman Dr. Robert Maddin 1967 citation noted. Dr. Jean Crockett Dr. Joan B. O'Brien Born in Warsaw, Dr. Asch came to the U.S. in 1920 at the Dr. Vartan Gregorian Dr. Philip Rieff age of 13. He took his B.S. from City College in 1928, his M.A. from Columbia in 1930 and his Ph.D. there in 1932. Dr. Michael H. Jameson Mr. John Salinger (Continued on Page Bj Dr: Richard L. Solomon (Chairman) THE COMMISSION From the President and the Provost A Three- Year Plan Pennsylvania's Position During the summer the Development Commission's skele­ ton crew "contacted everybody in the University," and began In Faculty Salaries to study the questions of reallocation and fund raising. Since Chairman Robert H. Dyson was conducting an expedition in September 28, 1972 Iran during the period, Dr. Eliot Stellar, Vice-Chairman of the Commission, reported on those subjects to the University A brief response to the Report of the Senate Com­ Council two weeks ago. mittee on Economic Status of the Faculty, which Although he stressed the tentative nature of the two-part appeared in the Alnumac of September 19, is in summary and said that the members of the Commission have order. still to reyiew various committee reports, Dr. Stellar did pre­ The economic status of the faculty is a matter of sent sorrie new and specific recommendations both for the re­ concern to all of us. Although the Report does not allocation program and for future fund raising. take full account of it, that status has improved very The ReaUoc:ation Program substantially. In the Fall of 1970, we ranked forty­ Reiterating that the University must order its own finances second among all institutions in the AAUP annual before it can successfully seek outside funds, Dr. Stellar an­ survey. By the Fall of 1971 (as reported by the nounced·that the budgets of both academic and nonacademic AAUP in the Spring of 1972) we moved up mark­ areas will be carefully examined. The Commission will con­ edly. Within the Group, in average compensa­ Ivy duct this scrutiny on a schoolwide, rather than on a depart­ tion Pennsylvania was led by only Harvard and Yale mental, ~asis. It is hoped that, perhaps with the assistance of in the full professor ranks and by Harvard alone in the an advisory committee to the dean, each school would meet ranks of associate professor and assistant professor. its own operating costs and perhaps a percentage of its over­ This is the first time we have ever ranked near the head within three years. top of the Group. The increases for the current year Research centers, institutes or other units which do not are as large as at other major universities. fall under the · jurisdiction of a single school would be ex­ The principal burden of the Senate Committee's pected to meet ~ir own expenses as well. Similarly, auxiliary IS services vlike the bookstore, dining service or dormitories report is that its May recommendation for an 6 across-the-board increase of S%, with 0.2% for ad­ would have t0 fti'eet their own costs. It would be necessary to justment of inequities, was not implemented. Mem­ support some "5ervices which produce no income (Buildings bers of the administration had met earlier with the and Grounds would be an example), but they would be re­ Committee and, reflecting the then current discUs­ viewed with an eye to keeping costs as low as possible with· sions in the Budget Committee, attention had centered out losing efficiency or quality. on various personnel benefits ai the only planned Thus at present, the recommendation which the Commis­ across-the-board increases. Throughout the spring the sion is considering would be that in cases where academic or expectation continued of salary adjustments entirely nonacademic units fail to meet their expenses within a three­ or primarily on a merit basis. year period, either they should be closed or the University should publicly recognize that it is subsidizing them. Dr. After the May IS advice from the Committee this Stellar remarked that Harvard has taken a similar approach administration sought a course that would be respon­ to its Divinity School. sive to the cost-of-living con~rns that underlay that advice, but that would avoid other less desirable Raising Additional Funds features. For example, the recommendation of the The Commission hopes that the three-year plan would Committee would have been substantially disadvan­ make available funds for reallocation as well as produce a tageous to younger faculty members and would have balanced budget. If 'the' savings made during this time do not made insufficient provision for promotions in rank. provide enough seed money, the Commission could propose A set of across-the-board increases by rank was there­ a further 1 or 2 per cent reduction of operating budgets to fore incorporated into the allocation of funds for create additional funds. Further economies could be made faculty salaries adjustments. through: We remain convinced that these actions, which l ) cooperation with other institutions, reflected the requirements both of merit and of in­ 2) review of the per cent of faculty holding tenure, flation. were sound. The government has reported 3) possibility of early retirement plans for some, that the actual increase in the cost of living in the 4) calendar reform. Philadelphia area during last year was 2.7%, con­ siderably below the recommended S% and about During an Almanac interview, Dr. Stellar stressed that cur­ what we achieved in across-the-board adjustments. rent belt-tightening and future reallocation programs are We welcome far greater collaboration with the aimed at creating new funds which ''are considered to be of Senate Committee. the greatest importance for the future of the University." "We are reluctant even to guess at pilot programs which Martin Meyerson seed money would make possible," he said, "but the Com­ Curtis R. Reitz mission has suggested the formation of a University com­ munity review committee to judge the best ways of using the new funds. Thus no one constituency could dominate plans." 2 ALMANAC October 3, 1972 THE SENATE Report of the Senate ad hoc Committee on the Structure of the Senate This Committee was established by the Senate Advisory such current issues as appointment and promotion policies Committee on November 3, 1971, to re-examine the struc­ and procedures, grievance machinery, proposed modifica­ ture of the Senate in the light of evolving changes in the tions of tenure rules, and the development of an early re­ structure of the University as a whole and in the light of tirement program.
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