Committee Releases Draft of Constitution

After more than a week of lengthy discussions, the constitution committee for the proposed Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council last night released a proposal which includes provisions for automatic minority representation on the council's executive committee.

Under the terms of the proposal, seven minority groups will share two full votes in addition to the nine other voting members of the executive committee suggested in the Dowling Report.

The constitution committee's written proposal--released at its meeting last night--also calls for council members to be elected through a proportional voting system, which would increase the chances of minorities being elected.

The committee's proposal will now be circulated among several campus organizations, including the Student Assembly, former Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life members, and House Committee chairman, for their approval, before it is brought before the administration, Faculty and student body for ratification.

Leaders Optimistic

Andrew B. Herrmann '82, chairman of the constitution committee, and Leonard T. Mendonca '83, chairman of the Student Assembly, both said last night that they expect the student body and the Faculty to ratify the proposal.

But John E. Dowling '57, professor of Biology and author of the Dowling Report, said Monday that a proposal calling for minority votes on the executive committee would be "inconsistent with the spirit of our report."

Dowling added that because many students do not favor automatic minority representation, such a provision would "jeopardize the passage of the proposal.

In addition to minority representation, the constitution proposal calls for formation of a committee to distribute funds not used by the council itself among various student organizations that apply for grants.

According to the proposal, 10 per cent of the funds allocated for the grants committee would be set aside for "emergency grants" for groups formed after the committee's original deadline.

The proposal states that the constitution "will be ratified when approved by a majority of undergraduates," but members of the constitution committee disagreed last night over what would constitute a majority.

Some members proposed that a straight majority of the entire student body should be required to pass the proposal, but others said only two-thirds of the students who vote--not necessarily a majority of the student body--should be required.

A third group said that two-thirds of the voting students should ratify the proposal, but only if the students who voted constituted a majority of the student body.

The committee did not resolve the problem last night, but Mendonca said after the meeting that an implementation committee for the council will resolve the ratification question.