COUNCIL Overview of January 19 Meeting


At the January 19 Council meeting, Provost Robert Barchi gave the first report as the President was enroute back to Philadelphia on University business. He said that at the MLK Interfaith Service the night before, the President announced her intention to propose that Martin Luther King's birthday become a University holiday. Provost Barchi said there are many consultative steps that would be taken.

Dr. Larry Gross, the new chair of Steering, introduced Dr. David Hackney, the new chair-elect of the Senate, whom he described as, "the last domino felled by Peter Conn." Dr. Gross said that the naming of University buildings will be discussed at the next steering meeting.

Kendra Nicholson reported that GAPSA received 1300 responses to a web-based survey on the need for graduate student space. She also said that GAPSA is forming task forces on safety and the modem pool changes. Penn will be hosting a meeting in April of GAPSA and BGAPSA's Ivy League peers.

The UA's Michael Silver reported that they will unveil their goals this week concerning such areas as social, housing, diversity and safety initiatives. He suggested that new Student Orientation should take into account what's best for all freshmen.

The concern of Terri White, on behalf of PPSA, is their need for funding for the group's facilities costs to cover functions; she said dues would be inappropriate. They are planning a Professional Development Workshop and Information Fair on Graduate Studies for March.

Dr. Martin Pring presented the Proposed Policy on Privacy in the Electronic Environment which he said has been in the formative stage for the past several years. Without enough Council members present for a quorum, there could not be a vote but there was much discussion on the topic which raised several questions and suggestions. The decision was to bring the topic back to Council for the discussion to be continued.

Dr. Edward Lally presented the 1998-99 Committee Report on Recreation & Intercollegiate Athletics and explained the challenges of providing for all of the recreational requirements of the campus community.

The final item on Council's agenda was the Report of the Undergraduate Assembly on the dining survey which was recently crafted by students in cooperation with Campus Dining. The survey rated the areas of importance to students and how well they feel the Dining Service is performing. Some areas that are of the most importance: variety, convenient hours of service, cleanliness and tasty, flavorful foods. Peg Lacey, managing director of Campus Dining said that in response to the feedback the dinner hour has been expanded from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday; Moosewood food program will be introduced as a vegetarian option; the variety of food options has been increased in all four dining facilities and extensive employee training was conducted during the winter break in customer service and culinary skills. More than 1000 of the 6000 students on a dining plan completed the survey.


Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 18, January 25, 2000

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