"We truly are serious about providing those support systems that can enhance the university," Palmer said. "We understand and appreciate that students are not only our product but our customers."

BIRD-Billing Inquiry, Records and Drop/Add-is an integrated voice response system used for student registration activities and grading, according to Joanne Plunkett of Student Finances and Records.

It's also a tremendous time-saver. Students used to wait two months between registering and learning their class schedule, and often stood in the drop/add line for four to six hours, Plunkett told the Council. Those same processes now can be accomplished over the telephone. Grade and transcript information also is available through BIRD.

Additional services soon will be available over phone lines, Plunkett said, to allow students to pay tuition and fees without standing in line in Student Accounts. Students also will be able to clear outstanding debts with a phone call and a credit card and to receive financial aid information online.

Technology also has changed the face of advising, said Karen Noonan, associate vice provost for undergraduate education. The Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) has transformed a difficult and complicated record-keeping system into a much simpler, more efficient and more effective process.

DARS offers students a compilation of university, faculty and departmental degree requirements. It's a planning device, a tracking mechanism and an analytical tool that allows students to look at their records.

The benefits to students are tremendous, Noonan said. DARS provides students with accurate information on their progress toward degree, allows them to plan ahead, reduces anxiety and enhances the advisement process, she said. And the technology will be even more available in the future. By spring, 1997, UB hopes to have online access in departmental offices as well as Internet access.

The Council also heard an overview of UB's SUNYCard, presented by Clifford B. Wilson, associate vice president for Student Affairs. More than 33,000 of the multi-purpose identification cards have been issued to date to UB students, faculty and staff. The university plans to expand the cards' functions to include building access, Wilson said.

Imagine being able to conduct a face-to- face interview with an employer halfway around the world for little more than the cost of a long-distance phone call. That technology exists today at UB, according to Eugene Martell, director of Career Planning and Placement.

VIEWnet is an integrated PC picture-voice transmission that "puts you in face-to-face voice contact with the person on the other end of the line," Martell said. The state-of-the-art technology is an extension of UB's Automated Placement Service, and offers links to 130 other colleges around the world as well as 35 national employers.

In other business, President William R. Greiner discussed with the Council recent events on campus that have received publicity, including reports that 28 percent of UB's undergraduate student body is on academic probation, the result, Greiner said, of "running an old set of rules against the current student body."

He also told the Council that the state and SUNY "may get a budget sooner than we thought," in part because of the upcoming election year. Greiner noted that he is getting "very good vibes" on the restoration of funding for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), although he is not as optimistic about restoration of operating budget funds.

The state legislature, he said, is anxious about SUNY's enrollment and application data, and proposed tuition increase. "What's emerging is the legislature understands SUNY is a Long Island and upstate concern. A lot of people in the legislature still like SUNY a lot." And they don't want to carry the negative effect of SUNY and TAP budget cuts into the election, Greiner said.

The end result is there may be a shot for restoration. That's the good news on the budget," he said. But the bad news, the "reality check," is the possibility of a post-election mid-year reduction. "It's going to take us a lot of hard work and time to build SUNY as a budget priority in the State of New York," Greiner added. Funding is not the only hurdle UB and SUNY face. There is a reluctance to pass management flexibility legislation needed to overcome the budget shortfall. Although SUNY trustees are in favor of the changes, the legislature is slower to accept the need, he said.

He also briefed the Council on the most recent Cemetery of the Innocents controversy, as well as on student protests, during which demonstrators briefly occupied his Capen Hall office. Greiner was not in his office at the time.

Greiner outlined to the Council the parameters of the Student Code of Conduct, as well as the civil laws regarding assault and trespass, both of which he recommended be strictly enforced. "We cannot have a public forum when people do not conduct themselves civilly," he said. "It's a time in our history when it's appropriate for a lot of young people to be anxious. It's a time in our history when it's appropriate for a lot of young people to be angry," he said. The challenge, he added, is to teach them to respond appropriately.