The Binghamton University Council held its first meeting of the 2010-11 academic year last Friday to discuss plans for Binghamton University’s law school, building more classrooms on campus and achieving a safe and positive atmosphere for all BU athletes.

The Sept. 17 meeting began with an announcement by Interim President C. Peter Magrath, followed by announcements by each of the vice presidents, in which they discussed their goals for the 2010-11 academic year.

According to information provided at the meeting, some of the main goals of the Division of Academic Affairs include completing studies and advance policies designed to increase student retention at BU and to ease transitions between different schools in the SUNY system.

Additionally, they plan to advance development of BU’s law school, to the point where it will be completed sometime between 2015 and 2018, according to student representative Sumeet Kalantry.

Kalantry, a senior double-majoring in political science and English, stated that the Division of Student Affairs will meet sometime within the next two weeks to discuss their own goals and how to achieve them. At the BU Council meeting, Kalantry also mentioned that the Drake concert far exceeded sales expectation, with all 6,000 tickets sold.

According to Athletic Director Jim Norris, one of the major goals of the athletic department is to keep an average GPA of 3.0 for BU athletes. The 2009-10 year brought the BU athletic department beyond this goal.

‘All our student athletes acted well academically,’ Norris said. ‘They achieved a 3.11 GPA, which was the highest yet. Two-thirds of our student-athletes got 3.0 or better. One-third got 3.5 or better.’

Norris said the men’s tennis team had the highest GPA at 3.69, which was the highest in the Northeastern American Conference.

Norris also brought attention to the achievements of BU’s athletic teams in the previous academic year, which include five conference championship wins by volleyball, cross country, wrestling, baseball and tennis. Norris added that BU had four conference runners-up.

‘One-third of our coaching staff was selected as coach of the year by their peers, and one received votes for national coach of the year,’ Norris said.

‘Athletically it was a great year. In terms of service, our staff and student athletes did 30,000 hours of community service, including Magic Paintbrush, the local Home to Heal project, and they did a lot of things to raise funds and awareness for cancer. All in all, looking back on last year, the athletic department had an awful lot to be proud of.’

The next BU Council meeting will take place on Oct. 15 and will report on student admission and housing programs, as well as provide a summary of the characteristics of the entering class.