Council to debate quorum issue

A motion to lower the percentage of University Council members necessary to constitute a quorum for voting is among the issues on the agenda for today's Council meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. Council will also select focus issues for the academic year, as well as consider reports from its Admissions, Communications, Community Relations, International Programs and Pluralism committees. "This is a meeting which will focus on multiple issues which are intended to create a more effective Council," Council Secretary Constance Goodman said. Members will consider revising Council's bylaws to change the quorum from "a majority" to 40 percent of the full membership necessary to legitimize a vote. "There is rarely a quorum at Council," Goodman said. "The purpose of revising this quorum is to provide a number which is realistic so that the votes are valid." The Admissions and Financial Aid committee will report on the recently reviewed McGill Report on admissions and the current policies regarding need-blind admissions and undergraduate retention. The Pluralism committee will address the United Minority Council's long-standing request for a seat on University Council, as well as issues of concern to Asian-American students. Among other items on the agenda, the Community Relations committee will report on its continuing efforts to monitor the trend of graduate students moving out of West Philadelphia and to understand the nature of the University's relations with the surrounding community. The Communications committee will report on adjustments to policies regarding the PennNet modem pool, as well as development of the services provided by Information Systems and Computing's First Call computer-support services. And the chairpersons of the Steering Committee, along with the Graduate and Professional Student, Undergraduate, A-3 and Penn Professional Staff assemblies will deliver status reports to University Council tomorrow. Members hope this year's Council meetings will be "more interesting and more interactive than they have been in the past," Goodman said. Council members -- including administrators, faculty, staff and students -- meet monthly to discuss campus-wide issues in a public forum at Council meetings. They serve as an advisory body to the University's president and provost. "Council provides the optimal opportunity for the community to speak directly to the president, provost and Faculty Senate," Goodman said.