Council to hear status reports

University Council will convene its final meeting of the semester today, with most of the session focusing on year-end status reports by several of the advisory body's committees. Chairpersons of five University committees will present their 1996 year-end reports for discussion. No votes are on the agenda for the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. Provost Stanley Chodorow will deliver his State of the University report in his last Council meeting as provost before he resigns December 31. This meeting will also mark the first full session in which a United Minorities Council representative has held a seat at Council. Last month, Council members voted to give the UMC the 16th undergraduate seat on the advisory body, ending a 3-year-long effort by the organization to gain representation. "There shouldn't be anything controversial that comes out of this meeting," Council Steering Committee and Faculty Senate Chairperson Vivian Seltzer said. Council members will hear the last of the 1996-97 status reports from the committees at tomorrow's meeting. "We wanted to have all the Council committee reports from last year completed before the end of the semester," Seltzer added. The personnel benefits committee will present a summary of its views on benefits redesign, including life insurance and health insurance, part-time benefits, paid time off and graduate tuition. It will also issue its overall report analyzing the benefits package. The NCAA recertification of Penn's intercollegiate athletic program will be in the Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics Committee's report. The safety and security committee will report on its findings about campus safety over the past year. And the disability board committee will present statistics on University employees' disability plans. Among other items, the Student Affairs committee will discuss its finding from a survey of incoming Penn freshmen. Also on tomorrow's agenda, Executive Vice President John Fry will update Council members. 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 today. 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.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.