On December 6, at the University Council’s last meeting of the semester there was a presentation on athletics and extracurricular activities. Grace Calhoun, director of the Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics (DRIA), began the presentation with brief video, Champion Your Life, and then she highlighted the division’s core values: character first, aiming big, humility, enjoyment and community matters. She listed three strategic priorities: competitive excellence, innovative student-athlete experience and engagement. Campus Recreation aims to engage students, faculty and staff and the broader campus community. Their goal is to have 70 percent of the undergraduates use one of Penn’s recreational centers (Pottruck Fitness Center or Fox Fitness Center). Last year those facilities were used by about 55 percent of undergraduates; last week usage was at 85 percent based on swipes. Graduate student usage has also increased since last year, up from 35 percent to 55 percent. Recreation has had joint initiatives with Human Resources, including Be in the Know for faculty and staff.

The DRIA facilities equal some 24 acres which include Franklin Field, Pottruck and Fox Fitness Centers, the racquet centers and tennis courts which are often in use nearly around the clock by over 30 varsity teams and others. They have programs, in conjunction with the Netter Center, that involve community service such as the Young Quakers.

Brian Sennett, the head team physician, spoke about the various aspects of Penn sports performance which include mental health and wellness, sports psychology, sports medicine, athletic training, strength & conditioning and nutrition. He also spoke about the concussion detection and prevention efforts that Penn has been involved in spearheading. Penn is one of 30 schools involved in a longitudinal study funded by a $30 million grant to decrease injury rates and prevent concussions. Penn is not only making strides through research but also by football rule changes designed to make players less prone to concussions.

President Amy Gutmann added that Penn’s leadership role in the national research on concussions and the proactive rule changes are two examples of what the University is doing to improve the injury rates.

The second portion of the Council meeting was devoted to the Open Forum which consisted of four speakers who raised concerns about providing health insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization for same-sex male couples; roster management and the issues of gender inequality in Penn Athletics; University policy on giving credits to college-level courses taken before enrollment at Penn and student representation in Penn’s Board of Trustees.

The topics raised during New Business included: a reevaluation of the procedures for reporting complaints of sexual harassment so that they would be reported to an impartial party rather than a dean or department chair; standardizing the procedures for dismissal of graduate students/master’s students; the stress caused by the December 4 Muslim travel ban approved by the Supreme Court; the difficult semester which was caused by various disasters on the national level; the desire for campus conversations to reflect all ends of the political spectrum; the topic of carbon neutrality and divestment.