Constitution Ratification

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gay Students Association (HRGSA) and the Harvard-Radcliffe Republican Club decided last week to urge students to vote against the proposed constitution for a college-wide student government association.

"We are not opposed to the idea of student government but to the Constitution's failure to provide criteria for deciding what groups get special representation and what do not," Charles R. Fraser '78, president of the HRGSA, said yesterday.

The HRGSA cited "the failure of the Constitutional Convention to allocate special representation to either the Radcliffe Lesbian Union or the HRGSA" as its reason for opposing the Constitution in a resolution passed last Wednesday.

Responding to the HRGSA resolution, Nicholas T. Christakos '79, a Leverett House delegate to the Constitutional Convention, said yesterday that "we followed the Department of Health, Education and Welfare guidelines for affirmative action in deciding what groups needed special representation."

"We chose the groups which are traditionally left out of the decisionmaking processes," he added.

The Republican Club is sympathetic to the HRGSA complaint but opposes the proposed government for different reasons, Douglas B. Hanson '79, policy director of the club, said yesterday.

"No special groups should be given seats on the body because this creates a problem of imbalanced representation," he said.

Hanson added that the Constitutional Convention purposely neglected to inform students that there might be a mandatory charge to finance the organization.

Christakos, however, said this charge "simply is not true. At no time was there ever mention of a mandatory charge on students' term bills."