Ivy Council discusses concerns

The Ivy Council, a group of 30 student leaders from around the Ivy League, met at Penn over the weekend to address several mutual concerns. The Council is a "coalition of the eight Ivy League student governments," according to Penn delegation chairperson and Undergraduate Assembly representative Christian Hensley. The College senior explained that the Council consists of four delegates from each student government for "a chance to learn from each other's mistakes," Hensley said. Most of the delegates arrived Friday night, and the conference began with a general body meeting Saturday morning in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Ivy Council Vice President of External Affairs Dan Tennebaum, a junior at Brown University, said the purpose of the meeting was to determine the "unique features" and "burning issues" of each school. The meeting then broke into smaller sessions, during which the students met with Penn administrators and staff or spoke among themselves about different topics concerning undergraduate student life. The subjects included accessibility to administrators, career services, dining services reform and Greek life. The participants compared notes on how each school dealt with the different issues. Ivy Council President and Dartmouth College junior Meredith Epstein said diversity had "been promoted as a big issue. "It was one issue that every school wanted discussed," she added. The Ivy Council was re-created in 1992 after a 40 year lapse, Hensley said, and is now "in transition." Epstein explain that the Council's main accomplishment had been to "gain legitimacy" within the individual student governments. The Council reconvened as a single body Sunday morning to review the work of the sessions, hold elections and review the constitution. The Council also discussed fundraising and the Council's attempt to become a tax exempt organization with a not-for-profit status. Tennebaum, who was elected president for the upcoming year, presented his "vision for the Ivy Council." He focused on establishing "foundations for growth" and such fundamentals as "increased communication between meetings," but also having the council determine what it can "do with all this." "We're building a definite vision," Hensley said. "I learned about everything from Dining Services to faculty-student interaction." Penn delegate and Undergraduate Assembly Treasurer Steve Schorr said the Ivy Council can help Penn. "The most important accomplishment of this weekend was [determining] what works and doesn't work at the other Ivy League institutions, so we can bring that information back to Penn," the College sophomore added.