Council to hear about plan today

University Council members will be briefed on the Commission on Strengthening the Community's progress at their meeting this afternoon in the Quadrangle. But hopes that today's meeting would offer the first glimpse into the content of the Commission's preliminary report proved unfounded yesterday, when Commission Chairperson Gloria Chisum said she will not discuss the report's specifics in her presentation. "It will be a progress report," said Chisum, who is also vice chairperson of the University's Board of Trustees. "I won't get into the specifics until I can get a concurrence among all the members [of the Commission]." Chisum, who said she anticipated speaking before the Council only briefly, was surprised to hear she was scheduled to speak for 20 minutes, with another 40 minutes reserved for questions from Council members. Interim President Claire Fagin said last night she thought Chisum would speak for about 30 minutes with another 15 minutes for questions. "We are all waiting with baited breath to hear what Dr. Chisum has to say," Fagin said. Chisum added that she is still getting feedback from Commission members on the report. There will be at least one more meeting of the full Commission before their report is made public before the end of the month. "We are still working furiously to get the report out in time for the first Almanac in February," she said. Former President Sheldon Hackney and Fagin formed the 23-member Commission in the wake of last spring's 'water buffalo' incident and Daily Pennsylvanian confiscation incidents. Made up of Trustees, faculty, staff and students, the panel is charged with discovering new ways of promoting a multicultural learning environment based on the free expression of ideas. In addition to Chisum's presentation, the Council will hear three five-minute presentations on improving the University's learning environment from Faculty Senate Chairperson Gerald Porter and representatives from the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and the Undergraduate Assembly. The meeting will also include the usual reports by Fagin, Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson, GAPSA Chairperson Patricia Khuly, Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Seth Hamalian, and the leaders of the A-1 and A-3 Assemblies. The Council meeting will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. in McClelland Lounge, and is open to the public.