COUNCIL Call
to Special Meeting
Call to Meeting Wednesday, November 5
To Members of University Council:
More than 25% of the members of University Council
have submitted a duly constituted petition calling for a special meeting
of University Council. The sole agenda item of the University Council meeting
will be a resolution (below) proposed by the Graduate-Professional
Student Assembly. This meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 1997,
between 4-6 p.m. I have been informed that GAPSA has reserved Bodek Lounge,
Houston Hall.
This meeting time required a shortening of the
meeting of the University Council Steering Committee. Notice of the proposed
change was sent to members of Steering October 30, 1997, asking if any members
who had an objection to adjourning Steering at 3:50 p.m. to notify the Steering
Chair by 10 a.m. today, October 31, 1997. No objections having been received
by the deadline Steering will adjourn by 3:50 p.m. on Wednesday, November
5, so that the special meeting of Council can convene at 4 p.m.
--Vivian C. Seltzer, Chair, Council
Steering Committee
Agenda for Special Meeting
of University Council
Wednesday, November 5,
4-6 p.m. Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall
Resolution for debate and vote:
Whereas Statutes
of the Trustees have established University Council, and have empowered
this body to "consider the activities of the University broadly in
all of its phases[and] recommend general policies and otherwise advise the
President, the Provost, and other officers of the University", and
Whereas the
Undergraduate Assembly (UA),and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
(GAPSA) have been established by the Statutes of the Trustees to "discuss
and express their views upon any manner they deem to be of general University
interest, and to make resolutions and pass resolutions with respect theretodirectly
to the President, the Provost and the Trustees"; and
Whereas GAPSA
has passed resolutions recommending that the Trammell Crow contract not
be approved, and a special committee be appointed by the Trustees to examine
the consultative and decision making process at the University; and the
UA is considering similar resolutions; and
Whereas both
the employee organizations (Penn Professional Staff Assembly (PPSA), and
the A-3 Assembly) recognized by Council as the legitimate voices of thousands
of University employees, have issued statement strongly critical of the
Trammell Crow contract, and the Black Student League (BSL) and the African
American Association of Faculty, Staff and Administrators (AAA) have also
objected to this deal; and
Whereas University
Council itself was not consulted on the decision to outsource facilities
management, nor was provided sufficient time in which to independently assess
the implications of this arrangement on the University "in all of its
phases"; and
Whereas in
December 1996, University Council requested that the administration report
back to Council on many issues raised by the Trammell Crow contract; and
to date the administration has not done so;
Therefore:
University Council strongly recommends that the
Trustees act in a manner wholly consistent with the resolutions Graduate
and Professional Student Assembly, and the expressed views of the PPSA,
A-3 Assembly, the BSL, and AAA.
Return to:Almanac, University of Pennsylvania, November
4, 1997, Volume 44, No. 11 |