EDITORIAL: No quorum can't be status quo

University Council's faculty delegation must find a way to improve its spotty attendance. All faculty members, and especially Council's faculty delegation, should be ashamed of and alarmed by their poor showing. And Council should extensively review faculty members' role and presence on the body, which serves as a University-wide advisory board to the president and provost. Although Council turned back the UMC's bid for a permanent seat twice in 1994, undaunted UMC members have worked hard toward gathering support for another vote. Their efforts recently came to fruition when Council's joint Committees on Pluralism and Student Affairs recently recommended giving the UMC a permanent seat. Council Steering Chairperson Peter Kuriloff, the outgoing Faculty Senate chairperson, rightly criticized Council at that meeting for its inaction and lack of participation throughout the year. Kuriloff even proposed a bylaw change to reduce the number of members needed for a quorum. But -- you guessed it -- that vote would be subject to the current rules, which stipulate that 46 out of Council's 91 members form a quorum. Few of the 45 faculty members on Council regularly attend meetings. Perhaps if Kuriloff proposed to reduce the faculty's representation on Council, more of his constituents would show up. Poor faculty attendance has weakened Council's credibility. A revived faculty interest -- or the threat of losing seats -- would improve discussion of campus issues and give groups such as the UMC the respect they deserve.