I.I. Academic Planning and Budget Committee

(Source: Office of the President, Almanac, April 21, 1981; revised, Office of the Provost, September 22, 1998; revised, Office of the Provost, April 30, 2001; revised, Office of the Provost, November 21, 2022)

The purpose of the Committee shall be:

1. to provide to the administration advice on the composition of the annual budget and on multi-year financial plans for the University;
2. to take into account, study, and report on long-range implications of current budget issues and alternatives;
3. to provide systematic thought about the evolving educational mission and educational needs of the University, and their present and future budgetary implications;
4. to provide useful early warnings of potential problems and early information on potential opportunities; and
5. to clarify means-ends relationships regarding programs and resources, including a reasoned basis for proposed priorities.

In addition to the general charge to the Committee, the President may from time to time give more specific charges to the Committee. Preferably, such periodic charges will be given at the beginning of the academic year, but the President may frame an ad hoc charge on matters that are either more specific or that are more immediate than the charge given at the beginning of each year. The Committee may, of course, develop its own agenda apart from the President’s charges, based upon the Committee’s interpretation of the general charge in the context of the University’s situation at a given time.

It is to be understood that in regard to major reallocations that would change the character of an academic or other center or school, the President will seek and/or receive advice from other duly constituted advisory and consultative bodies according to the provisions and practices obtaining at the time.

The Committee’s work shall be confidential, and it shall be empowered to promise corresponding confidentiality to those with whom it interacts.  The requirement of confidentiality applies only to the proceedings of formal business meetings, including documents and information provided for or at such meetings. It does not apply to open hearings or other non-business formats that the Provost as chair wishes to employ.

The Provost will implement and administer this rule of confidentiality not as an end in itself, but as a means towards the larger ends of the Committee. As such, the Provost will develop, in and through the Committee’s practices, the practical accommodations necessary to foster a necessary openness to the University community on the one hand and the confidentiality of the Committee’s actual deliberations on the other hand. The practical goal in mind will be to reconcile properly all three of the following principles: openness to information and opinion from outside the Committee; the protection of ongoing deliberations and developing individual positions within the Committee; and the communication of the positions of the Committee as a whole after they have been achieved. In order to achieve this goal, the Committee shall provide progress reports and information on items on the agenda with the aim of facilitating communication between the Committee and the University community.

The Provost, on behalf of the Committee, shall communicate with the President through whatever means and at whatever times are appropriate. In addition, the Provost shall periodically, but at least annually, inform the University community about the advice the Committee has given the President and its reasons.

The Committee shall have fourteen members and two alternate members: nine faculty members, two graduate or professional students (one member, one alternate), two undergraduate students (one member, one alternate), two representatives of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly, and the Provost. The nine faculty shall be chosen as follows: four faculty shall be chosen by the President and five shall be chosen by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. The two student members and two alternates shall be chosen as follows: one graduate or professional student member and one alternate by the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly; one undergraduate student member and one alternate by the Undergraduate Assembly. The two representatives of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly shall be named by the President each year. The Provost shall serve ex officio, and shall serve as chair.

The nine faculty members, chosen as above, may be appointed by the Faculty Senate or the administration for single three-year terms. Faculty members who have served previously may be appointed for one additional term after an interval of at least three years. When vacancies occur due to faculty leaves, resignations, etc., replacement members will be appointed to full three-year terms. It has been the practice that the Past Chair of the Faculty Senate serve a one-year term as a Senate appointee. This one year of service will not be counted as a term. The two student members, and the student alternates, shall serve one-year renewable terms. A student alternate may be renewed as a student member if a vacancy exists and vice versa. In order that there be the potential for partial faculty membership rotation annually, the nine initial faculty appointments shall include three one-year and three two-year appointments which may be renewed as three-year appointments.

The fourteen members shall each have a vote; the Provost as chair shall vote only to resolve a tie. The two alternates may attend all proceedings of the Committee, may be privy to all its information and deliberations, but shall not have voting power, except when a primary student member (undergraduate or graduate or professional) is absent for a particular vote; then the respective alternate may vote in the student's stead.