UPenn Students Will Vote on Suing Trustees

PHILADELPHIA--Undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania will decide in a referendum vote next Tuesday whether to sue the university for alleged violations of state "sunshine laws" in selecting a new president.

The 24-member undergraduate association decided to hold the referendum after members argued that the search committee and board of trustees violated state statutes by not holding public hearings during the nine-month search for a replacement to outgoing president Martin Meyerson.

The trustees' executive board selected F. Sheldon Hackney, now president of Tulane University, to be UPenn president, bypassing university Provost Varton Gregorian. Many students and faculty had supported Gregorian for the post and sharply criticized the trustees for not appointing him, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported.

Resigns

After the announcement that Hackney had been selected, Gregorian announced he would resign October 24, ending an eight-year association with the school.

Some members of the undergraduate association had favored proceeding immediately with the lawsuit, without waiting for a referendum.

The faculty senate also will meet in special session to discuss the selection of Hackney. More than 120 faculty members signed a petition for the special session, but several signers said they wanted to understand why the trustees had passed over Gregorian rather than to overturn Hackney's selection.

"It was not signed in an anti-Hackney spirit, or in a spirit of confrontation with the trustees," one petition organizer said, adding, "It's an effort to come to a better understanding of just what happened."