U. Council seeks relevant issues

After a spring semester in which the University Council cancelled two meetings for lack of discussion topics, members say that issues are back on the table and they are filling the chairs.

The UC -- a group of student leaders, staff and administrators that meets monthly to discuss campus issues -- has seen a strong comeback this semester.

Leaders say the body now has better attendance records, a fuller agenda and more enthusiasm from its members.

The UC recently held its best-attended meeting in months, discussing the controversial topic of Spring Fling safety, Undergraduate Assembly Chairwoman Rachel Fersh said.

According to Fersh, more graduate students and administrators have attended UC meetings this year than last year, and undergraduate member attendance has remained high.

Fersh said she also counted about 25 non-member undergraduates at the meeting -- a semester high.

Fersh says she will push for this trend to continue.

"We're discussing things that matter to people and they are more likely to come," Fersh said. "Spring Fling is not something students will miss, and the house deans don't want to miss that discussion either."

Fersh said administrative esteem has contributed to the UC's renewed strength.

"Gutmann totally has a fresh view of the University, and saw that [the UC] was a body that had the potential to be far-reaching," Fersh said.

Members said that this opinion marks a reversal of the one adopted by former University President Judith Rodin.

"I don't think Rodin regarded the UC as worthwhile," Nominations and Elections Committee Chairman and College senior David Diesenhouse said.

Fersh added that, under Rodin, the UC did not vest itself in any ongoing issues.

"People were airing concerns and then moving on," Fersh added. "Rodin realized that it wasn't something she wanted to spend a bulk of her time on."

Faculty Senate Chairwoman Neville Strumpf attributed weak attendance last semester to poor communication between organization committees.

This year, however, members say that communication is no longer an obstacle.

According to Fersh, this is due in part to the UC's efforts to eliminate obsolete committees, so that it is more productive in filling its agenda with items that generate campus-wide interest.

"The ideas bubble up from the committees and student groups," Strumpf said. "I personally feel that the student groups are the best of our constituents and they generate items for discussion."

But members still hope to recruit more interested students to sit on the body.

He said that last spring's recruitment began late in the semester, so students were pressed to meet application deadlines. Recruitment for fall of 2006 will begin closer to the beginning of April.

"Not enough student groups know about the positions and there are so many," said UC member and College junior Alexis Howe.

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