This reform, created as a response to recent turmoil, is the first change to Penn’s code of conduct in over a decade.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Mesa
By: Dia Tanwar
Penn’s board of trustees has made the first substantial changes to its code of conduct for the first time in more than a decade. The reform follows former president Liz Magill and former board chair Scott L. Bok’s in 2023 in response to turmoil surrounding the school’s response to incidents of antisemitism on campus. Board chair Ramanan Raghavendran states the review was “a regular revisiting of our governance procedures,” though it is unclear why no other review occurred prior.
The review involved outside consultants such as Richard Chait, Harvard Professor Emeritus of Education, interviewing board members, administrators, and other actors at Penn to identify issues with the current statutes and conduct of the board.
Board chair Ramanan Raghavendran issued a statement detailing major changes to the board as a result of the review.“One outcome was the creation of the governance committee, which has led the implementation of the statutory changes and reforms to simplify the board’s composition, clarify expectations, and modernize language. The board will now operate a governance committee, which will aim to “simplify the board’s composition, clarify expectations, and modernize language.”
More specifically, the governance committee has effectively replaced the nominating committee. Under the new statutes, a trustee can now also be removed for any reason, provided their removal is approved by 2/3 of the governance committee and the majority of the full board.
The board is also progressively limiting the number of active voting members. In 2023, it was reportedly challenging to involve all members of the board in the discussion while maintaining efficiency. The board will generally have from 60 to 44 members, 4 of which will continue to be appointed by the state.
The board is also streamlining the categories of trustees, eliminating charter trustees and alumni-appointed trustees, though 90% of the board members must be alumni.
Similarly, in 2023, social media reports became an increasingly sensitive issue for the board. As a result, the new statutes dictate that members will have to annually “acknowledge receipt of, and commitment to comply with [a] statement of duties and expectations [that define] standards of conduct and performance.”
These statutes were primarily devised during its full board meetings over the summer of 2025; however, the statues have only been effective since Nov. 10, 2025.
Dia Tanwar is a freshman in the College studying Physics from Jersey City, NJ. Dia is a news reporter at The Pennsylvania Post. Her email is dtanwar@sas.upenn.edu.
