A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge has ruled that a suit filed against the city and the University of Pennsylvania over the availability of scholarships must go to trial.
The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, on behalf of 16 organizations and 14 individuals, is suing the city and the university to provide 125 four-year, full-tuition scholarships to city residents annually as stipulated in a city ordinance passed in 1977. (See Education Week, Nov. 6, 1991.)
The city and the university contend, however, that the ordinance says that the university must maintain 125 scholarships to city students at any given time. They had asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial.
Judge Nelson Diaz set a trial date for Nov. 23.