Committee nominations face more delays

The candidates know, the Nominations and Elections Committee knows and Provost Stanley Chodorow knows. But no one is publically announcing the names of the four undergraduate students and three alternates named to the Committee on the 21st Century Undergraduate Education initiative. For the third time in as many days, the announcement on the appointees to the committee has been postponed. Chodorow said yesterday he had the nominations for the student and faculty representatives that will serve with the Provost's Committee on Undergraduate Education. But he added that he will not be ready to release the names of those selected until the end of this week or the beginning of next. "The committee has not been delayed," he said last night. "We've just had to go through the normal procedures for selecting student members and faculty members and those procedures have time." He said he hopes to talk with each nominated student and faculty member who has been nominated. He added that he expects to complete that process by tomorrow afternoon. "It has taken a long time and it is a complicated process but we are getting there," Chodorow said. The undergraduate education initiative was originally announced on October 19. Originally the committee was to be appointed on December 1, but Thanksgiving break pushed the date up to December 5. On Monday, Gresh, a College senior, said he had yet to notify some of the candidates and the provost himself. Gresh said he passed the nominees on to the provost via e-mail Tuesday. NEC Nominations Chairperson Richard Ahrens said the provost confirmed the decision yesterday. "He told us he would like to make the official announcement," the Wharton junior said. "We were waiting for his word and we got it." Gresh said he understands the provost's request. "When we confirmed the names, [the Office of the Provost] articulated that they would like to announce the entire committee together as a whole," Gresh said. The full committee will be responsible for developing the model for the undergraduate education initiative using the principles Chodorow and University President Judith Rodin outlined in October. The members will also work on the implementation process of their ideas. Rodin said last week she hoped to have at least one, if not two meetings with the full committee before semester break. Gresh said the committee is now in the hands of the provost and president. "They're in charge," he said last night. "It starts functioning when they're ready for it to start functioning." The entire initiative has been slated to first affect the Class of 2001 in its freshman year -- the fall of 1997.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.