Constitutional Amendment Shrinks Undergraduate Council

The Undergraduate Council voted four times last night to amend its constitution and bylaws in order to adjust to December's binding student referendum calling for a smaller council.

The council also passed a bill creating an ad hoc committee to look into further constitutional change.

The council first formally incorporated into its constitution the referendum vote to reduce its size to 50 members, voting overwhelmingly to abolish the current system of proportional representation that seats around 90 representatives.

The amendment will be formally accepted and will go into effect next year, unless three-fourths of the council decides to reject the change in the next week.

No council members spoke against the bill, which passed 54-4. The council had no choice but to accept some downsizing constitutional amendment; however, it was free to design its own scheme for cutting membership to 50.

Under the new arrangement, every "residential electoral district"--each House and each of the four first-year districts--will elect three representatives, regardless of size.

Some council members were concerned that under the arrangement Quincy House, which has about 500 residents, would have the same number of representatives as Kirkland, which is only home to about 350 students.

But council member David B. Orr '01 assured the council that if proportional representation were continued to be used, too many Houses would round their council membership up to four representatives to meet the 50-member cap.

Council Treasurer Sterling P. A. Darling '01, who sponsored the bill, agreed.

"With a council of only 50 members, proportional representation is no longer possible," he said.

Amendments to the council's bylaws addressing the responsibilities of members of a downsized council provoked more contentious debate. Some were concerned that members of a new, smaller council will be overwhelmed with work as the student-to-representative ratio increases.

An amendment shortening the council's office hours from 20 to 10 hours per week and assigning those hours to Executive Board members narrowly mustered the required two-thirds majority, passing 39-17.

A related amendment requiring members-at-large to table in their House dining halls in order to publicize the council's work also passed.

Former council President Noah Z. Seton '00 spoke out strongly against the reduction in office hours, saying that the cut from 20 to 10 reflected a lack of commitment among council members.

"The student body and student groups really do use office hours," Seton said.

Student Activities Committee Vice Chair Paul A. Gusmorino '02 said he didn't think council members failed to serve their office hours out of laziness, but rather because they rarely know the answers to students' questions.

"When you do come in [to the office] you feel like a jerk," Gusmorino said. "[Executive] board should be doing office hours. They're the ones who can do them right."

Former council Vice President Samuel C. Cohen '00 said he felt regular council members would serve their office hours if executive board members encouraged them to do so.

"If the vice president gets on their ass, they serve them," Cohen said.

Council members also voted, 38-10, with three abstentions, to change the bylaws in order to reduce the number of absences required before the council vice president warns and then expels council members.

Darling, who sponsored the bill, said that a smaller council simply can not afford absences.

"With only three members [per House], there's no one else to pick up the slack," he said.

Frank X. Leonard '01, the other sponsor of the bill, agreed.

"Each House will have one person on each committee," Leonard said. "You have to be there."

During the December elections, both Darling and Leonard were critical of the repeated Finance Committee absences of John A. Burton '01, who is now the council's vice president.

Burton originally abstained from voting on the amendment, but later added his own vote in support. As council vice president, Burton tabulates all votes.

After making these constitutional changes, the council voted 45-6 to create a 15-person ad hoc committee to look into further constitutional reforms.

Campus Life Committee Chair Stephen N. Smith '02, a sponsor of the bill, said he hopes the committee can clear up vague and inconsistent language in the constitution.

The constitution's vagaries became a major council issue three weeks ago when council members called into question whether 10 members' motion to recall Burton was constitutional.

The only consensus to come out of that long debate was that the constitution was ambiguous and needed clarification.

Gusmorino said that in light of the council's reduced size, it is especially necessary to look into ways to involve non-council members in the organization's work.

On average, Gusmorino said, 21 first-years currently run for the six seats in each of the four first-year districts. Next year, 21 students will probably run for three seats--meaning that many students interested in doing council work will not be elected.

"How do we involve these people?" Gusmorino asked.

In other business, the council discussed plans for an upcoming council-sponsored Spirit Week.