Letter to PENN President Amy Gutmann, background of Neil Gillespie December 31, 2005
Amy Gutmann, President
University of Pennsylvania
Office of the President
100 College Hall/6380
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6380
Dear President Gutmann,
Thank you for your letter of September 15, 2005. Your story and family history are moving. I fondly remember my association with the Philadelphia area Jewish community. As a young entrepreneur in the 1980’s, I owe my success to that connection.
I am disappointed with Penn’s decision to eliminate the Wharton Evening School. The evening program began in 1904, and is a 102 year-old tradition. Diversity will suffer at Penn as a result of the closing. Enclosed is a copy of Anita Henderson’s letter denying the completion of my BBA degree.
As a fifteen year-old high school student, I spent three days at Penn participating in a junior science and humanities program. Upon graduating high school I did not attend college due to socioeconomic factors and a craniofacial disorder that inhibited speaking. Instead I labored at the US Steel Fairless Works for a year. Eventually I landed a job managing a car dealership owned by a Jewish man.
Within a few years I started my own business, studied at the Wharton Evening School, and obtained reconstructive surgery. At Penn I met Jordan Peiper, my business law professor. He was a friend, and counsel to my business interests. However, after earning my ABA, events caused me to question my education.
One such event was the fall of Wharton icon Michael Milken and his subsequent criminal conviction. I still recall when his portrait was removed from Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Another was more personal, when Wharton professor Jordan Peiper was jailed for stealing from a client’s trust fund, and subsequently disbarred.
As an antidote to Penn, I moved west and earned a BA from The Evergreen State College, Olympia. Contemporaneously I commuted to the Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, to continue craniofacial habilitation. There I met Dr. Ningyi Li, a visiting scholar from the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Li is chairman of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Qingdao Medical College Hospital.
On February 24, 1997, I wrote to the Wharton Alumni Club President for the People’s Republic of China, Professor Wang Xi, in an effort to utilize the much touted lifelong relationship of the Wharton global network. Dr. Li also wrote Professor Wang Xi on my behalf, in his native language. Wang Xi did not respond to either letter.
Earlier this year Dr. Li asked if I could find a fellowship for one of his students, Dr. Chen Tao, MD, an Oral and Maxillofacial radiologist. I contacted Corky Cacas, director of Penn’s DMD and Graduate programs, and Dr. Hangorsky’s office of International Relations. There was little or no interest.
In your letter of September 15, 2005, you said the we all have an obligation to do good in the world. If you could arrange for a fellowship on behalf of Dr. Li, I believe this would be a mitzvah. Chinese workers do not have the occupational protections that exist in America, and when workers are maimed in industrial accidents, Dr. Li and his staff reconstruct their faces and lives. This is poignant as Chinese workers are increasingly injured producing goods for the American market. Enclosed you will find Dr. Li’s contact information.
As for completing my BBA degree, I am abandoning that effort. I was seeking the degree solely as a prerequisite for service in Iraq with an American contractor. My degree from the Evergreen State College does not award grades, only narrative evaluations, which are not compatible with the job application process. Since then my mother has taken ill and I am caring for her.
For now I am writing a non-fiction book which incorporates some of the above material. Is there a liaison who provides factual and historical information about Penn?
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Neil J. Gillespie
