Council Leadership

To the Editors of the Crimson:

In a letter which appeared in the Crimson on March 16, Timothy Rea '90 writes that he was "disgusted and outraged" at the conduct of Undergraduate Council Chairperson Evan Mandery at last Sunday's UC meeting. Implying that Mandery attempted to influence the outcome of a routine question of procedure by intentionally miscounting votes, Rea argues that Mandery's "personal animosity" also led him to engage in an unprofessional and disruptive shouting match later in the meeting.

I must seriously question both the accuracy of both Mr. Rea's observations and the conclusions he draws from them. It seems clear to me that Mandery and Beroutsos engaged in a shouting match about as much as John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald engaged in a gunfight. Being the one who is shouted at is not the same as being the one who is shouting. Being attacked is not the same as being an attacker. And stepping down off the chair and leaving the meeting room in order to resolve a personal dispute is also quite different from standing in the back row shouting profanity and threatening violence.

I would imagine that as the President of the Republican Club, Mr. Rea certainly has a fairly good understanding of politics and could find many contemporary examples of "running roughshod," "personal animosity," and "shouting matches" in politics. While he is also correct in suggesting that such actions, when they actually do occur, are matters for serious concern, I must maintain that such terms simply do not come to mind as I look back upon the calm and dignified actions of Chairperson Mandery last Sunday.

Mr. Rea is certainly a welcome guest at the meetings of the Undergraduate Council, and I encourage him to attend these meetings whenever he is able. Yet at the same time, I must object to his attempt to portray an atmosphere of animosity and unprofessionalism where it truly does not exist. I have great respect for my classmate and his concern about the actions of our elected officials. But I am confident that should he continue to observe the Undergraduate Council's meetings on a regular basis, Mr. Rea will find no reason to be concerned about Evan Mandery's ability to be a distinguished, dedicated, and impartial Chairperson. Jeffrey A. Cooper '90   Undergraduate Council Vice Chairperson