Council marred by low attendance

Wednesday's University Council meeting was notable not only for the introduction of an Undergraduate Assembly initiative for greater police-student interaction, but for the lack of people present to hear about it. Although Council is composed of more than 90 students, faculty members, staff and administrators, Council members estimated that no more than 30 showed up to the meeting in McClelland Hall in the Quadrangle. Official numbers were unavailable because Council Secretary Constance Goodman did not return several calls for comment. After several key votes were postponed due to a lack of quorum -- the minimum number of members necessary to conduct official business --Council voted last semester to lower the quorum requirement from 50 percent of its members to 40 percent. Only 37 members are now necessary, as opposed to the old number of 46. "It's a joke," said College junior and Council member Jeremy Katz. "They lowered the quorum because no one was showing up." In past years, the UA -- of which Katz is a member -- has had difficulty meeting quorum, a problem which frequently occurs at Council meetings. Only five of the UA's 15 representatives came to this week's Council meeting. "The problem with University Council is that it's not only UA members who don't show up," he said. "Instead of forcing people to go, they gave into the apathy." But City and Regional Planning Professor John Keene, the chairperson-elect of the Faculty Senate, said there is no way to make attendance compulsory. He added that "moral suasion" and pressure from constituents were enough to keep most members coming to the monthly meetings. Education Professor Peter Kuriloff, the past chairperson of the Faculty Senate, attributed the low attendance at the week's meeting to a lack of contentious issues. "[The attendance] really depends on what's on the agenda," he said. Kuriloff cited last semester's crowded special Council session on the Trammell Crow Co. outsourcing plan as a meeting "worthy of an Ivy League institution." However, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly member Matthew Ruben, an English graduate student, maintained that it was precisely the low attendance that prevented important issues from reaching Council's agenda in the first place. For an item to be added to Council's agenda on the day of a meeting, it must receive the support of a majority of a quorum of Council's membership. On Wednesday, Ruben planned to introduce a late resolution "urging the University to act in an open and democratic matter with the vending ordinance," but the meeting lacked the necessary quorum to decide. "It's a shame," Ruben said. "Council has to be responsive to these issues." Many student leaders on Council admitted that logistical difficulties, such as classes and tests, often prevent them from bringing their voices to the table. Reacting to this week's poor turnout, College senior Meredith Hertz, the UA's liaison to Council, cited time conflicts between midterm examinations and Council meetings. But Engineering graduate student Sanjay Udani, chairperson of GAPSA -- which holds 15 seats on Council -- sees a more underlying reason for the lack of attendance. "In general, there are more seats than people who want them," he said. "[However], the people who attend are good enough to bring out the relevant issues." Udani added that "six or seven" of GAPSA's representatives to Council are being replaced due to poor attendance. Faculty members and students alike proposed changes that would increase both Council's attendance and its effectiveness. "The real issue is how to structure those meetings to make them more interesting," Kuriloff said. "When issues of import come up in the community, you need the Council to get involved." "They have to have issues that would draw the interest of faculty members," UA Vice-Chairperson and College junior Samara Barend said. Barend, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, also found fault with the advisory role of the Council. "There is no direct correlation between what happens at University Council and what happens in the administration," she said. Barend added that the "decision-making structures" of Council should be changed so that authority is not "concentrated in the hands of a few top executives." She cited Trammell Crow and the college house system as examples of initiatives over which the Council should have had decision-making power. Udani said students should have greater input in the final policy decisions. "Effectively, there is no student voice," he said. "There are student ears, but no voice." Electrical Engineering Professor Jorge Santiago-Aviles blamed poor faculty attendance on the low incentive for Council membership. "We are evaluated on research and teaching," he said. "Committee membership adds very little to our brownie points."

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