Lack of Quorum tables council downsizing

The Undergraduate Council almost passed legislation last night that would have paved the way for a campus-wide referendum to reduce the council's size.

But instead, three students departed midway through the meeting, depriving the council of its quorum. Only 39 of the 90 total council members remained.

Without the 40 representatives required to pass legislation, the bill was tabled, and the meeting adjourned.

Council representatives have voted to cut the size of the council three times in as many years. Each time, a majority of council representatives have supported the legislation.

But since the council's constitution would need to be amended to reduce its size, three-quarters of the members must approve such a measure. Thus a smaller council has remained a pipe dream of its leaders.

"I wish the council had been downsized. I wish it hadn't failed each time," council president Noah Z. Seton had said in a past interview with the Crimson.

But the legislation put forward by Alexander A. Boni-Saenz '01 would have sent the matter directly to the student body in a campus-wide referendum, and so required only a majority vote.

Faced with a smaller number of available council seats, argued Boni-Saenz, the representative who introduced last night's legislation, would-be council representatives would have to run for their seats instead of just signing up for them.

This year, only one person, Chad A. Wathington '01, ran for the five available council seats from Dunster House. Boni-Saenz thinks this shouldn't happen.

Seton, a longtime advocate of a smaller council, broke into a grin when asked before the meeting if he thought the legislation might pass.

"I don't know. It just might," he said.

But while council members were in the middle of a debate on the measure, a teaching fellow walked into the room and announced that he had booked the room for a class.

Inadvertently pointing the spotlight on a longtime council issue--the lack of student group space--the administration had double-booked the council's meeting room in Sever Hall.

To solve the problem, Seton volunteered to move the council meeting upstairs.

Unfortunately, when the meeting resumed, three representatives who had been present when the meeting began--Eliot House representative Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos '01, Pforzheimer House representative John P. Marshall '01, and Winthrop House representative Michael A. Hill '02--had left, pushing the council below its quorum.

After a count of those who were present, Seton took attendance and then adjourned the meeting.

"Obviously I would have like for more business to have been conducted tonight. I would also like to see attendance higher in general," said council treasurer Sterling P. A. Darling '01, who is running for the council's presidency this semester.

Each delinquent had another commitment that began at 8 p.m., and in their defense, Seton said the meeting had been rescheduled because of the Thanksgiving holiday, moved to a Monday rather than a Sunday night.

But Marshall said the room change gave him a chance to leave without disturbing the meeting. He said he left to go to his job, refereeing for the intramural program.

And Hill said he had a math section that started midway through the meeting.

Stephanopoulos said he cut out because he had a debate team meeting.

"We have our most important tournament of the semester this weekend. I probably should have told Noah that I wouldn't be able to stay for the whole time, but people usually come and go during the meeting," he said.

According to Seton, debate on the legislation will continue at next week's regularly scheduled council meeting.

The bill would attach the referendum to the presidential ballot later this month, along with a referendum to increase the council's term bill fee. For the referendum to be binding, at least as many students as voted in the first election of the school year must vote.