Amid the myriad of campus concerns addressed on a daily basis, one group has the power to affect change.

President Mark Emmert started this month's Board of Regents meeting with an acknowledgement of the various awards received by faculty members and the University at large. The UW now occupies the no. 16 spot on Shanghai Jiao Tong University's top 100 list of world research universities.

Though much has been made of Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize, Emmert made it a point to highlight the role of more than 50 UW faculty members who participated in the research portion of the project.

President Emmert also touched on the recent sex offender controversy, calling the accusation of land grabbing "ridiculous." He pointed out that the University was not having a running battle with the owner of the homes as some have reported.

"Safety trumps everything else," Emmert said.

Regents discussed the North Campus program development; two sites are being considered in Everett and two in Marysville. The needs of these sites and market demands are still being assessed. David Brown, of the Graduate Program Student Senate, expressed concern that the money for North Campus expansions not be taken out of graduate programs.

The Joint Committee approved all academic appointments for this session, and there is still no decision with regard to funding for maintenance on Husky Stadium.

Regents approved a supplementary budget request, which asks for a total of 21.1 million dollars.

In light of high-profile campus crime on the UW campus and elsewhere in the nation, 4.5 million would be used to develop mass-notification systems on the Seattle campus and to support prevention and response efforts.

Funds would also be used to make improvements on several animal facilities. These changes are needed to ensure compliance and accreditation of UW programs related to the facilities.

Under consideration is the creation of a college that would focus on the environment and environmental issues.

"Right now, more than 400 faculty in disparate groups ... don't have a way to make a whole sum of their parts," Emmert said.

While the structure is still being discussed, the goal is to create an organizational home with a real budget.

Norm Proctor, of the UW Alumni Association, discussed "Husky Pride," the theme for October, and reported that the Dawg Dash raised more than 10,000 dollars.

[Reach reporter Sarah Greenleaf at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]