Council OKs Jan. Ski Trip, Conc. Fair

The Undergraduate Council unanimously approved several resolutions last night which its members say will improve campus life, including allocating funds to publicize the Science Center stockroom's extended hours.

The council also scheduled a concentration fair for first-year students and organized a one-day ski trip to Vermont during intersession.

Student affairs committee members Andrew J. Ehrlich '96 and Denise A. Ebery '95 negotiated with Science Center Director Nona D. Strauss to extend the sourcebook stockroom's hours for the first two weeks of second semester. In exchange, the council will provide $100 worth of publicity for the new schedule.

Strauss will use up to $9,000 of her discretionary funds to keep the stockroom open until 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays, Ehrlich said.

"It's so expensive for them to do because the stockroom deals with such large sums of money that [Strauss] can only hire `bonded' employees [and] can't use regular work-study students to keep the stockroom open," Ehrlich said.

But council members may be expected to "floorwalk" during the extended hours, directing students and providing information on the availability of sourcebooks, Ebery said.

Ebery and Ehrlich also said they discussed other ways of improving the procedure for purchasing sourcebooks, including the creation of two lines, one for cash purchases and one for term bill purchases.

The co-sponsors also said they discussed with Strauss the possibility of making all source books "term-bill-able," instead of the fraction presently available by that mode of payment.

The council allocated $640 for its annualconcentration fair, which is scheduled forFebruary 7.

The council has invited representatives fromeach academic department to convene in MemorialHall to discuss their offerings with prospectiveconcentrators.

Resolution co-sponsor Sharon L. Wing '97predicted that the fair's accomplishments could betwo-fold.

"We scheduled the fair during second semestershopping period so freshmen can also use thisresource to help them decide on what courses totake as well as what concentrations to consider,"she said.

The council also agreed to organize a ski tripto Vermont's Okemo Mountains on February 1.Students will be asked to pay $60 to join thetrip. This fee will cover their lift tickets, skirentals, food from Harvard Dining Services, andround-trip transportation on a luxury coach bus.Students providing their own skis will be charged$45.

The council will recover its initial investmentof $1,000 if at least 44 students sign up for thetrip. The campus life committee will spend only$150 on the trip, said resolution cosponsor JohnA. Mann '92-94.

"This is a cheap, great way for us to providean opportunity for people to enjoy themselves,"said council member Joseph S. Evangelista '95. "Weshould run more small trips like this."

In other business, University Director ofPlanning Philip J. Parsons addressed the councilon the development of the impending Memorial Hallrenovations into a student center by September,1995.

Parsons invited council members to visit hisUniversity Hall office with any inquiries orinput. "I really hope to have a lot of studentinvolvement on this," he said. "That'scritical--that's the only way this project isgoing to be successful."

Council Vice President Melissa Garza '94announced her interpretation of last week's summitwith members of the administration, including Deanof the College I. Fred Jewett '57.

Council members proposed alterations to theacademic calendar which would set first semesterfinal exams before winter break and alignHarvard's academic schedule with those of mostcolleges throughout the country.

"Dean Jewett was receptive to our concernsabout calendar reform, but there area lot ofchannels we will have to go through before we caneffect change'" Garza said, "The administratorswere amenable to almost everything we suggested,though."

Mann said he was in the process of finding anew music group "that would both be a decent drawand would come here for a price we could afford."

Mann is searching for a group to replace BlindMelon, which rejected the council's bid for aFebruary 17 concert last week.

Mann added that he hoped to schedule the newconcert for sometime this April. "My strategy nowis to start focusing on smaller bands that arejust about to go national," he said.

The council will reconvene on January 9 for itslast meeting of the semester. This will be one ofthe "rotational meetings" council President CareyW. Gabay '94 promised during his presidentialcampaign last October. The meeting will be held inthe Mather House dining hall at 8 p.m

The council allocated $640 for its annualconcentration fair, which is scheduled forFebruary 7.

The council has invited representatives fromeach academic department to convene in MemorialHall to discuss their offerings with prospectiveconcentrators.

Resolution co-sponsor Sharon L. Wing '97predicted that the fair's accomplishments could betwo-fold.

"We scheduled the fair during second semestershopping period so freshmen can also use thisresource to help them decide on what courses totake as well as what concentrations to consider,"she said.

The council also agreed to organize a ski tripto Vermont's Okemo Mountains on February 1.Students will be asked to pay $60 to join thetrip. This fee will cover their lift tickets, skirentals, food from Harvard Dining Services, andround-trip transportation on a luxury coach bus.Students providing their own skis will be charged$45.

The council will recover its initial investmentof $1,000 if at least 44 students sign up for thetrip. The campus life committee will spend only$150 on the trip, said resolution cosponsor JohnA. Mann '92-94.

"This is a cheap, great way for us to providean opportunity for people to enjoy themselves,"said council member Joseph S. Evangelista '95. "Weshould run more small trips like this."

In other business, University Director ofPlanning Philip J. Parsons addressed the councilon the development of the impending Memorial Hallrenovations into a student center by September,1995.

Parsons invited council members to visit hisUniversity Hall office with any inquiries orinput. "I really hope to have a lot of studentinvolvement on this," he said. "That'scritical--that's the only way this project isgoing to be successful."

Council Vice President Melissa Garza '94announced her interpretation of last week's summitwith members of the administration, including Deanof the College I. Fred Jewett '57.

Council members proposed alterations to theacademic calendar which would set first semesterfinal exams before winter break and alignHarvard's academic schedule with those of mostcolleges throughout the country.

"Dean Jewett was receptive to our concernsabout calendar reform, but there area lot ofchannels we will have to go through before we caneffect change'" Garza said, "The administratorswere amenable to almost everything we suggested,though."

Mann said he was in the process of finding anew music group "that would both be a decent drawand would come here for a price we could afford."

Mann is searching for a group to replace BlindMelon, which rejected the council's bid for aFebruary 17 concert last week.

Mann added that he hoped to schedule the newconcert for sometime this April. "My strategy nowis to start focusing on smaller bands that arejust about to go national," he said.

The council will reconvene on January 9 for itslast meeting of the semester. This will be one ofthe "rotational meetings" council President CareyW. Gabay '94 promised during his presidentialcampaign last October. The meeting will be held inthe Mather House dining hall at 8 p.m