Yet Again, Anemic Attendence Afflicts Council

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Warm weather blessed the Undergraduate Council's Springfest last Sunday, but last night it cursed the council's weekly meeting, as balmy temperatures and a lack of air conditioning in Sever 113 contributed to poor attendance at the council's next-to-last scheduled meeting.

The council started its meeting 45 minutes late because it did not have a quorum--half of the council's members--present.

And the meeting ended early for the same reason. Too few members had stayed to vote on seven proposed bylaw amendments.

When a handful of members left the meeting in the middle of a debate, it became obvious that there were not enough people to continue.

According to council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01, the council currently has 56 members--making 28 the minimum number with which the council can conduct official business.

The failure to maintain quorum was a major disappointment for council leaders, particularly because expulsions and resignations have cut the council's size from 72 to 56 in the past two weeks alone.

The council's April 24 meeting--when the amendments dealt with today were originally slated to be discussed--also ended with a quorum call, when attendance dipped below 36.

Driskell said the problem of poor attendance during spring reading period is not new.

The members who did attend were treated to an untimely exchange between Driskell and her oft-opponent, Todd A. Plants '01.

As debate on a bylaw amendment broke down into noisy chaos and some council members appeared to be headed for the door, Plants loudly raised a point of personal privilege while Driskell tried to hold things together.

"This is why people leave!" Driskell said of the meeting's disorganization.

Plants refused to let Driskell attend to other business.

"I have a point of personal privilege," he said. "It takes precedence over everything else."

"I know," Driskell said. "But I'm just going to ask you to be quiet for a moment!"

But by the time Driskell convinced Plants to withdraw his point, the damage had been done--Student Affairs Committee Chair Michael D. Shumsky '00 and a few other council members had left the building.

So the meeting broke up, with the council having unanimously allocated exactly $10,000 to student groups and passing--virtually unanimously--12 minor changes to the council's bylaws.

Next week's meeting, therefore, will have to deal with more bylaw amendments as well as a more substantive constitutional amendment that offers a way to resolve the question of how to assign members to the three standing committees.

An amendment offered last month by Jeffrey A. Letalien '01 and David B. Orr '01 to address the question of committee assignments in a downsized council failed to muster the necessary three-fourths majority.

According to Campus Life Committee Co-Chair Stephen N. Smith '02, the new amendment--proposed by former council Vice President Samuel C. Cohen '00--will also fail.

Smith said the amendment faced some opposition in the Constitutional Committee, which he said would probably portend its death in the general council.

Driskell and Smith said they were optimistic that the council would be able to produce a quorum for next week's meeting.

But they've employed a classic method of persuasion: In addition to a promise that the meeting won't last for more than an hour, they'll provide an free food for all who show up.