U. Council to hold first meeting

Although classes have barely begun, University Council is not wasting any time getting back to the business of advising the University's administration. Today, the Council will hold its first meeting of the semester. Members will receive an update from the Committee on Pluralism regarding implementation of recommendations made last year by the Commission on Strengthening the Community. A report on the current status of the University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program will also be included in that discussion, University President Judith Rodin said. The Committee to Review the Status of ROTC at Penn suggested last fall that ROTC be restructured under an new "arm's length" arrangement. Following the report of the Committee on Pluralism, the Bookstore, Communications, Library and Safety and Security Committees of Council will each give brief interim reports. Provost Stanley Chodorow said time has also been allotted at the meeting for discussion of proposals involving the Student Judicial Charter and the Code of Academic Integrity advanced by the Student Judicial Reform Committee. Additionally, a report on the Ivy Council is slated to be given before the meeting adjourns. Today's meeting will be the first conducted by Council under its revised bylaws -- which were approved by mail ballot on December 14, 1994 by a vote of 41-6. The revised bylaws provide for eight new Council members: one elected representative of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly, the Librarians Assembly and the A-3 Assembly -- and five additional undergraduates who are members of the Undergraduate Assembly. The allocation of additional seats to undergraduates became a hot topic last spring when UA chairperson and Wharton junior Dan Debicella asked that one of the new seats be given automatically to the chairperson of the United Minorities Council. That proposal was defeated. Graduate students protested the awarding of additional seats to undergraduates, since they were not offered an increased number of spots on Council. The new Council members will attend today's meeting, which will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. The meeting is open to the public.