Council: Shaping the Year's Agenda

At its first meeting of the new academic year, with Will Harris reelected as moderator and Mark Lloyd reappointed as parliamentarian, Council focused on adding specifity to the charges of its standing committees. The charges (to be published shortly) are expected to reflect Council speakers' interests in such topics as safety, pluralism, and the assessment of the new Alcohol Policy.

Some highlights of the information reports that open Council each month:

President Rodin said last year's Council recommendations led to policy formation in areas such as closed circuit television monitoring and the campus charitable giving campaign. She also noted that the Freshmen Convocation had the largest faculty turnout since she has been in office.

Provost Barchi spoke of new educational efforts and social options that are being implemented in connection with the new Alcohol Policy. He also mentioned a 13% increase in research grants to Penn and the need to assess research expenditures in collaboration with the faculty.

Steering Committee Chair John Keene--who was to have been past chair but is still in office since Senate's intended 1999-00 chair, Dr. Peter Conn was tapped for Deputy Provost-applauded the selection of Dr. Conn for the new post and announced that he and the chair-elect, Dr. Larry Gross, will split the vacancy, with Dr. Gross taking the chair of Senate and of Steering in January.

GAPSA's vice chair Kendra Nicholson, expressed the group's support of the new Alcohol Policy, and announced that a new web site has been created in line with GAPSA's goal of building a stronger sense of graduate student community.

UA's Chair,Michael Silver reeled off a long list of plans--among them a proposal for e-mail stations, and a forum to discuss parental notification of alcohol and other abuses in the light of changes in the Buckley Amendment (in this issue). Activities plans promoted by UA include the recent Politically Incorrect Show as part of the "There's No Place Like Penn" weekend; the upcoming one is a festival in Clark Park (here), and a proposed concert for all Philadelphia colleges in Fairmount Park.

UMC Chair Chaz Howard described the joint efforts with the UA to include minority students on the UA committees; the UA has named as liaison for the UMC collaboration Michael Krouse.

PPSA Chair Terri White reported on a summer retreat in the summer to address the PPSA bylaws, which lacked a provision for a vacancy at chair-elect. Ms. White is continuing in office since her intended successor is on maternity leave. She also said PPSA now plans to present two plenary sessions each year. The first for this year is on October 20 in Logan Hall, and the second will be announced for the spring term.


Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 5, September 28, 1999

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