At the University Council Open Forum meeting on Wednesday, February 23, Senior Vice President for Institutional Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer Joann Mitchell and Frederick Steiner, Dean of the Weitzman School of Design, presented the report of the Campus Iconography Group (Almanac April 6, 2021).

The group was charged with making a set of recommendations to ensure the placement and presence of statues and other prominent iconography reflects Penn’s achievements and aspirations to increase diversity, as well as be inclusive, innovative, and impactful. The group recommended the adoption of its proposed frameworks; use of campus planning efforts to make Penn more inclusive and welcoming; increased diversity on design review and arts committees; land acknowledgment of the Lenapehoking people; an updated and expanded Discover Penn Initiative; establishment of a fund to diversify iconography; and development of a website or other central repository for policies, protocols, and procedures.

Eight registered speakers discussed the following topics during the open forum:

• Revoking Penn’s COVID-19 booster mandate.
• Ending the indoor mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions.
• Divestment in fossil fuels and action on other social justice concerns.
• Status of the investigation of Amy Wax, Robert Mundheim Professor of Law.
• Improvement of available computational re sources at Penn.
• Threat of evictions from University City Townhomes and the general decrease in affordable housing in areas surrounding Penn.
• Centralization of survivor and sexual misconduct policy resources.
• Availability of broadband in campus housing and the reliance on mobile devices on applications such as Penn OpenPass since all students do not own a smartphone.

A ninth speaker who had not registered discussed a proposal that student-athletes receive excused absences from class to participate in athletic competitions.

The next meeting of the University Council will be on Wednesday, March 30 at 4 p.m. in Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall. For more information, visit https://secretary.upenn.edu/univ-council.