University
Council Meeting Coverage
On
Wednesday--at
the final
Council meeting for the academic year--four
year-end
committees
reports
(Almanac April 22) were presented.
Dr.
Edwards presented the report on Libraries,
highlighting the new Meyerson Conference
Room, the Library's new home page,
the strategic
plan
and the
new Collaboratory
for Teaching and Learning, as well
as the
rising
cost
of journals.
Dr.
Mauro
Guillen
reported
on International
Programs, noting the need
for temporary
housing for international scholars,
and the
time-consuming process
of completing
the new
government-mandated
forms.
Provost
Robert Barchi
added
that he has approved additional staff
positions
for OIP
to cope
with
these
requirements.
Dr.
Helen Davies gave the report on Quality
of Student Life, and noted that the
FSAB will continue to meet with the
fraternity and sorority chapters to
review compliance. She also mentioned
that smoke-free student housing was
supported by the committee. President
Rodin asked if there was a recommendation
to ban smoking in University student
housing, to which Dr. Davies replied, "yes." The
recommendation was seconded by Nursing's
Dean
Afaf
Meleis.
Dr.
David
Freiman
presented
the Personnel
Benefits report which focused on the
substantial
increase
in healthcare
costs
and the change to a two-tier
premium
system.
He also
suggested
that the web site, www.upenn.edu/privacy,
devoted to privacy should be promoted
more widely.
The
Patriot Act
The
second half of the meeting was devoted
to presentations concerning the implications
of "The USA PATRIOT Act," which
was enacted
by the
U.S.
Congress
and signed into law by President Bush
on
October
26, 2001,
and the
Bioterrorism
Act of 2002. The USA PATRIOT Act is
an acronym
that
stands
for The
Uniting and Strengthening America
by Providing
Appropriate
Tools
Required
to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism Act.
Matthew
Finucane, director of the Office of
Environmental Health and Radiation
Safety (OEHRS), gave some background
that showed even before 9/11 there
were other Acts such as the Antiterrorism
and Effective Penalty Death Act.
The
USA PATRIOT Act criminalized possession
of biological agents that had a legitimate
purpose. Anyone who meets the criteria
in any of the categories on the lengthy
list of "Restricted Person" may
not have access to "select agents" of
which
there
are currently
68 such
agents that are restricted.
To
comply with the USA PATRIOT Act, labs
with select agents must be registered
with the CDC. Penn has a newly appointed
Task Force, chaired by Dr. Tom Lubensky,
to review Penn's policy on classified
research
in light
of the
issues
raised by the national and international
climate
and by
the new
Federal
legislation.
Laboratories will complete a BARF (biological
agent
registration
form).
Additional
training
is being
made
available
pertaining to the new laws and regulations
and
more
record-keeping
is required
for tracking
inventories, and transfer
agents.
There are some exclusions including:
select
agents
in natural
state,
nonviable select agents,
attenuated
strains, and regulated toxins
within
limits.
There are regulations concerning biosafety,
to prevent
the transmission
of biological
agents
to workers or others, or to
the environment.
Others
pertain
to biosecurity,
to prevent terrorism. OEHS
can be
reached
at (215)
898-4453 and on the web at www.ehrs.upenn.edu. There
are numerous resources available at
the EHRS site, including the updated
select agent and toxins list, the destruction
of select agent procedures, research
protocol approvals, and safety training
programs.
OIP and
SEVIS
Joyce
Randolph,
executive
director
of the
Office of International Programs (OIP),
discussed
challenges
of complying
with
The Student and Exchange Visitor
Information
System
(SEVIS),
an internet-based
database
system intended to facilitate
the transmission
of data between schools
and the
government, and the Student
and Exchange
Visitor
Program (SEVP), a U.S. federal government
program
designed
to facilitate
and monitor
the activities of foreign
students
and exchange
visitors.
SEVP
and SEVIS
were mandated by the Illegal Immigration
Reform
and Immigrant
Responsibility
Act of
1996 (IIRIRA), and implementation
had been
set for
January
30, 2003.
Under
SEVIS,
Penn
is required
to compile
and maintain report information
about
international students and exchange
visitors,
and to report such information
periodically
to the
Bureau
of Citizenship
and Immigration Services
(formerly
INS)
and to the Department
of State
(DOS). Ms. Randolph said that OIP has
been
busy
recently
updating
technological and informational
resources
in preparation
for compliance
with the requirements
of SEVIS.
See the
OIP web
site, www.upenn.edu/oip for
information.
At
Penn
there
are about
5,800
individuals for whom SEVIS documents
will
be required; thus
far nearly
1,000
have
been issued by OIP with more
than
5,000 still to be done by August 1,
2003, when data
on all
currently
enrolled
students
and affiliated scholars, and their
accompanying
dependents,
must
be entered
into SEVIS. New documents will
be issued.
Colleges
and universities
must
be approved
by the
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services
and the
DOS and
have
been using SEVIS this semester
for all
new students and scholars
and for
certain
changes in status of current students
and scholars.
Wendy
White,
vice
president
and general
counsel for Penn, and general counsel
for UPHS,
said
that
the impact
of The
USA PATRIOT Act requires the FBI
to have
a subpoena
or a court order if they
want
information. She told Council members
that
if any member of the Penn community
is in
doubt
about
whether
or not
it is appropriate to divulge
information,
call
the Office
of the General Counsel, (215)
746-5200.
She said that
she felt
it is
important to notify the Penn community
not to
be intimidated.
President
Rodin mentioned that there are multiple
ways that Penn can and will be involved
in protecting the University's
international
mission.
She cited
the speech
she gave at Commencement last
May (http://www.upenn.edu/video/pvp/st-Series_President.html#Bacc_2002).
GAPSA
presented a Resolution "related
to the USA PATRIOT Act and other recent
legislation and regulations' impact
on international students and scholars" which
GAPSA
admitted
was essentially
the same
resolution previously approved
by SEC.
All Council members
present
voted unanimously in favor of the resolution:
University
Council
supports
the administration
of the
University in its efforts to join
the administrations
of other
colleges
and universities throughout
the United
States
in order to urge the executive and
legislative
leaders
of the
government
of the United States to work
together
to monitor present
and future
governmental
actions in order to ensure that freedom
of speech
is fully
protected
and that
the research and educational
missions
of colleges
and universities
are not
jeopardized.
Areas of concern include restrictions
on who
may do
research
using certain biological
materials,
restrictions
on the
implementation
of the
Freedom of Information Act with respect
to academic
research,
limitations
on visas for
foreign
students
and scholars, increased monitoring
of public
and private
communications, and the
proposal
to broaden current security classifications
to include
areas
of sensitive
information.
University Council
should
remain
involved with this matter.