Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As we bid farewell to summer and prepare ourselves for a new academic year, I write as chair of the Faculty Senate to welcome you back to campus and to invite you to participate in the work of the Faculty Senate of the University of Pennsylvania.

We find ourselves, as a faculty and as a nation, at an extraordinarily complex and challenging juncture. The political, economic, and ideological tensions that are evident nationally are echoed on our campus and show no sign of abating. Major global conflicts continue in Ukraine, the Middle East, and elsewhere; elections in the U.S. and other nations have exposed and exacerbated domestic conflicts; poverty and disease are endemic. Locally, the City of Philadelphia confronts profound economic inequality, a continuing opioid epidemic, and a struggling city center. Over the past academic year, our campus experienced the resignation of President Elizabeth Magill and chair of the Board of Trustees Scott Bok, major protests (ending with police intervention) over the war in Gaza, incidents involving antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, and an attack on the core principles and values that have made the University of Pennsylvania one of the world’s premier academic institutions for almost three centuries. These are turbulent times.

Although the Faculty Senate cannot address all of these challenges, it can and will consistently advocate for the fundamental values that bind us as a community. As chair of the Faculty Senate, I will prioritize and defend three values that are essential to the academic mission. The first is shared governance, articulated over a century ago by the American Association of University Professors in its 1920 “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities.” Shared governance means that the faculty have the primary say in areas including the curriculum (what is taught and how it is taught), appointments, promotion, tenure, and dismissal. The faculty play an important role in decisions involving the hiring of university leaders, budgeting, planning, student and faculty conduct, and more. In some cases, the faculty can and should work autonomously, and in others, we must work collaboratively with other University leaders. Shared governance has been increasingly challenged in recent years; the Faculty Senate must and will strenuously oppose those efforts.

The second value crucial to the health of this (and every) campus is open expression. At the heart of all great universities is the open, honest, and respectful exchange of ideas. The essence of our job as members of Penn’s faculty is to think, to listen, to try out new ideas, to critique our own arguments and those of others, and to strive to arrive at the best possible theories, arguments, and explanations in our fields. The same goes for our students: their education depends upon their willingness and ability to freely and openly express their thoughts and ideas, and to engage in thoughtful exchanges with their teachers, colleagues, and community. No campus can live up to the responsibility of educating its students if it does not fully embrace a commitment to open expression. As our community continues to debate the meaning and boundaries of open expression, the many voices of the faculty must be heard.

Academic freedom is the third value that I will prioritize. Simply put, academic freedom protects faculty and students from punishment, censorship, intimidation, or retribution for the views, findings, or methods that animate their teaching, research, or classroom expression, even when those views, findings, or methods are controversial or unorthodox. As Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the 1957 U.S. Supreme Court opinion Sweezy v. New Hampshire: “Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise, our civilization will stagnate and die.”

In addition to the importance of these three values, Penn faces an even broader existential challenge. Americans of all political persuasions increasingly view higher education as a bad investment. A college degree is too often considered an overpriced commodity that does not provide sufficient returns, trust in institutions of higher education is diminishing, and barely half of Gen Z teenagers express interest in pursuing a four-year degree. As a recent article in The Atlantic succinctly put it, “Americans are losing their faith in higher education.” For now, Penn’s application pool remains extraordinarily strong. But we cannot be complacent in the face of this broad skepticism of higher education.

Shared governance, open expression, academic freedom, and the future robustness of higher education are not guaranteed, and they must not be taken for granted. I invite you to join me, along with chair-elect Kathleen Brown, past chair Vivian Gadsden, and the other 55 members of the Senate Executive Committee, in protecting the values that make the University of Pennsylvania an exemplary institution of learning. We face powerful headwinds and significant challenges. Your participation and involvement in the Faculty Senate will help to ensure Penn’s future.

—Eric A. Feldman
Chair, Faculty Senate
Deputy Dean for International Programs
Heimbold Chair in International Law, and
Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy
Penn Carey Law School

The Faculty Senate: An Overview

The Faculty Senate is the representative voice for standing faculty and is led by a tri-chair arrangement in which decisions are made jointly by the chair, the past-chair, and the chair-elect. All standing faculty are members of the Senate, and most of the work is conducted by an elected Senate Executive Committee (SEC) of 58 faculty members that meets monthly, and by several standing and select committees. All standing faculty members are encouraged to become involved in the Senate’s work by contacting the Senate office or your constituency representative.

The standing committees of the Faculty Senate focus broadly on our campus and community-wide concerns. They include the following Senate committees:

• Economic Status of the Faculty (SCESF), which gathers and organizes data on compensation and represents the faculty in the determination of University policy on salary issues
• Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF), which oversees and advises on matters relating to the University’s policies and procedures concerning the academic mission, including the structure of the academic staff, the tenure system, faculty appointments and promotions, faculty research, and faculty governance
• Faculty and the Administration (SCOA), which oversees and advises on matters relating to the faculty’s interface with the University’s administration, including policies and procedures relating to the University’s structure and the conditions of faculty employment
• Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity (SCFDDE), which identifies and promotes best practices for faculty development, mentoring, and work environment to facilitate faculty success at all career levels and evaluates and advocates processes for faculty recruitment, promotion, and retention that support diversity, equity, and work/life balance for the faculty
• Students and Educational Policy (SCSEP), which oversees and advises on matters relating to the University’s policies and procedures on the admission and instruction of students, including academic integrity, admissions policies and administration, evaluation of teaching, examinations and grading, academic experiences, educational opportunities, student records, disciplinary systems, and the campus environment
• Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency (“CIRCE”), which facilitates discussion of global warming and climate change as they pertain to Penn Faculty.  A spinoff group, CIRCE: Medicine, is working to help Penn Medicine implement the Climate and Sustainability pillar of its current strategic plan

(A list of Senate committees and constituency representatives can be found here.)