Student Group Opposes Abolition of the HCUA

The Harvard Council on Undergraduate Affairs, which has had more than its share of failures in its three-year history, may even be thwarted in its plan to go out of existence.

An ad hoc group of students revealed yesterday they were organizing opposition to an HCUA proposal to replace the present Council with a bi-cameral student government. The College will vote on the proposed constitution in a referendum tomorrow.

A statement that will be distributed tonight in House dining halls terms the new constitution "a re-hash of the traditional idea that student governments are for show not for governing." The students sponsoring the statement wish to see the HCUA retained but strengthened.

The statement criticizes the "un-democratic selection of some members" of the proposed Harvard Undergraduate Council and calls for the election of a student council president by college-wide vote.

To provide a "guarantee" that the Administration will seriously consider student council recommendations, "a procedure should be established whereby the Administration could be compelled to make public its reasons for rejecting a Council proposal," the statement declares.

Structure Criticized

R. Keith Aufhauser '67, a spokesman for the group sponsoring the statement, scored the new constitutional structure for "divorcing policy-making from decision-making."

But H. Reed Ellis '65 last night defended the HCUA proposal as the "most workable solution" of the problems of student government at Harvard.

The Harvard Policy Committee (HPC), with its nine student members appointed by the Master and Senior Tutor of each House, will attract "students who think seriously about the long-range problems of the College," he said.

Represent Student Opinion

The HUC, which includes House Committee chairmen among its members, is designed to "represent student opinion on immediate issues," according to Ellis.

The proposed constitution, approved unanimously by the HCUA Dec. 10, must be ratified by a simple majority of those voting in tomorrow's referendum.

The HUC would consist of House chairmen, the Freshman Council chairman, and a second representative from each House to be selected by whatever means each House Committee chooses.

The HPC, in addition to its student members, would include the Dean of the College and three faculty members selected by the student members.

The proposed constitution has the support of the Dunster, Kirkland, and Quincy House Committees.