Council Quorumless At Its Last Meeting

Unable to maintain a quorum for the fourth straight week, the Undergraduate Council last night conducted its final meeting of the year with more than half its members absent, its officers acknowledging that the results were not technically binding.

Although Council Chair Guhan Subramanian '92 said during the meeting that he had expelled enough of the council's members to maintain a quorum, Vice Chair Athan G. Tolis '91 said that no one actually was expelled last night.

Tolis said that the council's business--including a vote to hold a College-wide referendum on divestment next fall--was technically invalid unless ratified by a quorum, but added that the council would proceed with the referendum and other actions anyway.

Tolis said the council had already dismissed two members, Sean C. Griffin '90 of Adams House, for poor attendence in order to maintain a quorum last week. Council rules require half the body--which generally consists of 88 members--to be present for business to occur.

The council's executive board is entitled to dismiss members who miss four council meetings. Before last week's meeting, board members warned 18 members with poor attendance records that they would be expelled if they missed either of the last two meetings of the year.

At last week's meeting, Subramanian made a motion to continue business without a quorum, requiring the full council to ratify the evening's decisions at a later date. Tolis said last night that the expulsion of Griffin and Ruiz had made the previous meeting official.

Although Subramanian acknowledged last week that there was no quorum, many council members said last night they were unaware that the council chair had made any dismissals to solve the problem.

Subramanian began last night's meeting without checking for a quorum--an exception to the usual practice of taking attendance before every meeting. The chair later agreed to take attendance in response to demands from council members.

Council Parliamentarian Michael E. Johnson '92 said that he disapproved of expelling members to attain a quorum, but added that the move waslegitimate.

"It was poorly done and in poor taste, but itwas pretty much legal," said Johnson, who did notattend the meeting.

And council member Colin V. Gallagher'91--recently a vocal critic of the council--saidhe felt the "manipulations" of the quorum were"unethical."

"I believe the chair misrepresented hisposition in saying that two to four members wereexpelled before [last week's] meeting," Gallaghersaid. "I think it's a very dirty move, it can onlyharm this organization in the long run."

Subramanian could not be reached for commentafter the meeting.

Despite the reduced attendence, the councilpassed a resolution calling for a studentreferendum on University divestment from its SouthAfrican holdings.

Council members said the referendum, to be heldin conjunction with the council's generalelections in the fall, will guide them informulating a revised position on thecontroversial issue.

"The council spends a lot of time on divestmentand the last referendum on the issue was fouryears ago," said council member Randal S. Jeffrey'91, who chairs the council's ad hoc committee ondivestment.

"Some people felt that the student body mightnot support complete divestment," Jeffrey said."The council spends a lot of money on divestmentand people wanted to make sure the students agreedthe council should be working on this issue."

Jeffrey added that the referendum would alsostrengthen the council's position when it dealswith the administration.

The referendum will pose two questions: whetherrespondents support divestment--either complete orselective--of the University's South Africanholdings, and whether the council should activelypromote that view.

The resolution also called on the council toissue a report on the results of the referendum