U.C. Unable to Alter By-Laws

Due to poor attendance, the Undergraduate Council was unable to vote last night on specific by-laws changes to implement direct elections of the council president and vice president.

By council by-laws, fifty percent of the council must be in attendance for legislation to be passed. But when the time came to debate what one council member called "the most important bill of the year," only 26 of 61 current members were present.

When the council determined that the necessary quorum wasn't present, council president Joshua D. Liston, the sponsor of the by-laws changes, said that the council would have to find a way to make a decision.

"I think it's pretty imperative to have something down before next semester," Liston said.

Several plans were discussed to get around the restrictions in the constitution so that a vote could be made, including calling members who were not present and asking them to resign so that the number required for quorum would be lower.

"We obviously wanted to try to get around quorum and vote on this here," Liston said.

Instead, the executive board convened and decided to carry on with the status quo, council-only elections of officers next semester and to decide on by-laws changes at the first meeting next year. Liston, who engineered both the amendment and the proposed bylaws changes, will graduate this spring.

First-year council member Carsten M. Reichel '98 said that the inability to maintain quorum at last night's meeting reflects poorly on some members of the council.

"The fact that some members come to the beginning of the meeting to get credit for attending half a meeting reflects a lack of dedication to serving the students," Reichel said.

Before being forced to adjourn because of low attendance, the council honored Dean L. Fred Jewett '57 who is retiring after this year.

Last semester's council president David M. Hanselman '94-'95 gave a speech in tribute to Jewett's "forty years of dedicated service to students of Harvard College."

Hanselman said that Jewett deserved commendation for his dedication to tackling difficult policy issues while taking into account the opinions of undergraduates.

"Dean Jewett, the students thank you for all you've done, we are truly going to miss you," Hanselman said. The council awarded Jewett with a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his service to the College.

In other business, the council approved the initial allocation for a Harvard-wide formal for next fall, tentatively scheduled for October 7.

The formal is expected to cost $75,000, and the council approved an expenditure of $15,000 to cover an expected revenue shortfall in addition to $10,000 in loans to be paid back with the money from ticket sales.

The evening is planned to begin with a reception for faculty, staff and students followed by the ball in Harvard Yard.

During the ball, the Yard will be lit by lanterns and closed off to everyone except first-years and those with ball tickets. The dance will be held under tents in front of the Science Center.

Tickets will cost $20 for students and be free to faculty and staff. A swing band and a DJ will be hired to play.

Co-sponsor Philip R. Kaufman '98 said he was confident that the event will be a success.

"This will betheHarvard event," Kaufman said. "There will be no bigger event at Harvard next year."

Also on the docket was a constitutional change proposed by Jason E. Schmitt '98 and Bradford E. Miller '97, which would establish a judicial oversight committee to investigate wrongdoing by council members.

The committee would consist of seven members voted on by the council as a whole, none of whom could sit on the executive board.

The committee would then meet regularly like the other standing committees and as often as necessary in emergencies.

Miller said that such a committee would not take members away from working on other committees.

"The members of the committee will sit on other committees as they do now and would only convene frequently when necessary," Miller said.

Miller said that he hoped that this committee would stop scandals before they happened and better define the process of censuring members.

Council vice-president Justin C. Label '97 said that the committee would not necessarily have facilitated the censure proceedings against Liston earlier this semester.

"This committee doesn't seem terribly necessary," Label said. "Perhaps it would have been useful in the censure thing, but the main problem was that nobody knew the rules. The [proposed committee] wouldn't know them any better. Their decision would be just as arbitrary as mine."

Rudd W. Coffey '97 disagreed, arguing that having a committee of seven people making an arbitrary decision would be better than one.

"We need the damage control," Coffey said. "Everybody is riding their high horse and nobody is making sure the cows don't leave the ranch."

The bill requires the approval of three fourths of the entire council to be implemented, and the current vote stands at 12 in favor and 17 against with four abstentions.

The council also approved a comedy concert for next fall and agreed to sponsor a conference of Ivy League student governments next semester.

The council began voting on constitutional reforms that would create an executive board position for a press secretary for the council and make adhoc committees easier to form, but due to the poor attendance, the votes are not yet final.