Try Again

The Student Council usually has a lot of difficulty getting things done. Last year it had an inordinate amount of trouble working efficiently. The confusion in which it ended the year was enough to provoke a partially serious anti-Student Council referendum, and to cause a series of shameful election fiascos.

Luckily, the worst publicity that the Council has received in recent years occurred in the same year that the group was required by its Constitution to examine itself and to begin a general revision. The numerous and chronic errors of the body provided plentiful material for the large "Council Committee on Self Examination." Then a smaller committee or revision began the actual work of revising the Council's constitution.

Last Monday the Council actually approved the first of a series of measures to make itself workable. It passed a new term-of-office provision, under which elected members serve for a calendar year rather than a nacademic year. This will keep final term seniors, who rarely do much Council work anyway, from having to serve with the body. It will also provide for better continuity between one Council and the group elected to succeed it, for the old members will still be around for the new members to consult.

More important, however, was the approval of a provision that four men must be appointed by the Council to work on long range advisory and evaluation projects. This clause will perhaps inspire each year's Council to perform better its most important function--that of evaluating administration policy and reporting on it.

The remainder of the new constitution will be considered at future Council meetings. It features many laudable changes, among them the elimination of the House nomination meetings that caused so much ruckus last Spring. Though many of this year's Council members were not associated with the group last year, they should consider the new constitution carefully, in the light of all the shortcomings that have been manifest in Council activity during past years. If they do, the Council will be able to get things done--without so much trouble.