STUDENT COUNCIL ADOPTS HALF OF NEW CONSTITUTION

In a hard-hitting, smoke infested meeting in University Hall last night the Student Council thrashed out and adopted one-half of their new constitution; the second part will be considered next Wednesday; then will come a 30-day wait before final adoption during which time undergraduates may enter their objections.

No Student Discipline

Chief among the sections adopted was the preamble, which recognized the principle brought out in the Ballantine-Bowditch proposals, namely that the Council does not have direct jurisdiction over individual students, a power given in the old document.

The new preamble reads:

"The purpose of the Council is to cooperate thoroughly with the Faculty in raising the general intellectual standard at Harvard, to bring before the governing bodies of the College expression of undergraduate opinion in an effort to make College policies better adapted to the needs of the student body, to cooperate with the Committee on the Regulation of Athletic Sports in eradicating any evils in the conduct of athletics, and to serve as the responsible authority in matters where undergraduate action, rather than opinion, concerns the College as a whole."

Membership Same

Article I of the new constitution, dealing with membership, was also adopted. This is similar to the old membership clause providing for a council of seventeen men, including a representative from each House unit and two men from outside the Houses. Nomination for election is to be as before, and the nine elected members are to choose the eight additional members. There will be 11 Seniors and six Juniors as at present.

After considerable argument Section 4 of this article was added, providing that "a member of the Council who fails to discharge his duties satisfactorily may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the Council, and his position shall be filled by another member of his class within two weeks by a two-thirds vote of a quorum."

Compromise Measure

This was a compromise from the provision originally submitted providing that any member who missed three successive meetings might be expelled.

Another sentence in this same section deals with publicity, providing that any member who violates rules regarding publicity shall be suspended from the Council. These rules as adopted in Section II of Article IV, state, "when two-thirds of a quorum feel that publicity concerning any subject under discussion would be clearly detrimental to the best interests of the College, all information shall be withheld from publication."

Publicity

This provision is followed further along by another, under Article V, Duties, providing that the Council shall "inform the student body of the activities of the Council, in order that the student body not only may have an opportunity to share more directly in the activities of the Council, but also shall know what its representatives are doing." This has not been considered as yet, but there may be considerable debate on the question.

The other two articles adopted last night are as follows:

Article II--Meetings

"Sec. 1. The Council shall meet at least twice in each academic term after proper notification by the secretary. The President shall be empowered to call special meetings.

"Sec. 2. A quorum shall consist of a majority of the members of the Council. A vote of the Council shall be declared if two thirds of those voting favor the project. If there is less than a majority of those in favor of the motion, the motion is laid on the table. If there is a favorable majority which does not reach the requisite two thirds, a week shall elapse, at the end of which time a majority vote shall decide.

"Computation of two thirds of those voting shall be to the nearest unit.

Article III--Officers

"The officers of the Council shall be a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be Seniors. The President shall preside at all meetings, and shall have the power to cast a vote only in the case of a tie. The Treasurer shall, in the absence of the President, assume all his powers. The Secretary shall perform all the duties regularly pertaining to that office.