U. Council to discuss student privacy issues

University Council will focus on issues of student privacy and administrative restructuring today at its first meeting of the academic year. Council members -- including administrators, faculty, staff and students -- meet monthly to discuss campus-wide issues in a public forum. They serve as an advisory body to the University's president and provost. Executive Vice President John Fry is scheduled to address problems involving the new Financial Management Information System, or FinMIS, during today's meeting. Fry will also lead discussion on the University's restructuring efforts, according to Council Secretary Constance Goodman. Council members will take another look at the Draft Policy on Privacy of Electronic Information and the new Draft Policy on Student Privacy in University Residences, both of which were first presented to Council last spring. The student privacy in residences policy was revised over the summer and now includes a separate section discussing the entrance of University employees into dormitory rooms for routine health and safety inspections. "From time to time, the Department of Residential Living will enter all rooms in a residence or section thereof for the purposes of eliminating conditions that are actually or potentially unhealthful or otherwise hazardous," the new draft states. University President Judith Rodin is expected to discuss the Agenda for Excellence and her recent academic and minority permanence proposals, according to Goodman. And Provost Stanley Chodorow will speak on the progress of the 21st Century Project, Goodman said. "Obviously, these are issues that are ongoing and are very much a focus of the University," Goodman added. Council's Committee on The Book Store will be presenting its 1995-96 year-end report today. The report discusses The Book Store's new management under Barnes & Noble and offers recommendations to improve Book Store services. The Committee on Safety and Security will also present its year-end report to Council. The proposal for expanding Penn Escort services to include Carlton House on 18th Street and JFK Boulevard, the Philadelphia Art Museum and Broad Street are discussed in the committee's report. Both committee reports were published in the Almanac yesterday. Council will also discuss the agenda for this year's future meetings. Rodin and Chodorow are expected to present extended reports on the "state of the University" at November's Council meeting. Council's third annual "open forum" meeting is tentatively scheduled for December, but may be moved to November. Council will meet today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in McClelland Hall in the Quadrangle.