The Dowling Proposal

The new Student Council will be made up of 85 representative--five elected from each House or Yard area. These students will serve on five different committees of the council, three of which will elect from among their members the student representatives to three student-faculty committees dealing with academics, housing, and student life.

The Council will be responsible for the selection of students to the eight Standing Committees, thus acting as an intermediary stituency. The representatives will be required to report frequently to the Council.

This proposal is explicitly designed to solve the problems that exist in the present system.

Duplication of effort is eliminated under the new system by having a single Council with one set of five committees. Close coordination of efforts would be ensured by the existence of a single executive committee.

Student representatives to the student-faculty committees would have the support and guidance of their Council committee as well as the backing of the entire Council.

The Council will foster close communications with its student body constituency through newsletters, forums, polls and referenda which funding would make possibe. All meetings of the Council and its committees will be open, and this accessibility is important in guaranteeing responsiseness and accountability.

The Dowling report recommends a $10 surcharge on all student term bills, of which $6.50 would be optional--a negative check-off. The remaining $3.50 would be non-refundable since, according to the Dowling Report, "all undergraduates would benefit from some aspects of the proposed student government." The Student Council could receive as nuch as $60,000 to be allocated as follow:

A) $5,000 for campus-wide activities and social events, such as concerts.

B) $20,000 (the non-refundable $3.50) would provide the operating bedget for the Student Council. The money would support polls, discussion forums and referenda to gauge student opinion, and a newsletter to inform students on issues and the voting records of their representatives. The proposal also suggests a half-time staff assistant, office supplies and telephones--CHUL. CUE and the Faculty Council have found these indispensable.

C) $35,000 (from the optional $6.50) would be distributed to undergraduate organizations on the basis of need. Ninety-five per cent of Harvard-Radcliffe students belong to such groups. The money would not replace the present funding efforts of these organizations, but will especially assist groups that are new and without alumni support--worthy organizations that would otherwise exist only marginally.

Some may argue that such a proposal is unworkable. But Harvard is the exception among the nation's colleges in its lack of a centrally-funded student government. Brown, U. Penn., U. Mass., and Stanford, for example, have student-controlled funds varying from $128,000 to $1.6 million. It works elsewhere; it can work here.

We cannot afford to be complacent with the current fragmented, over-lapping, and fundamentally powerless student government. A no vote would retain this faulty structure. We cannot merely reshuffle student governance at Harvard, but must reinforce the responsiveness, accountability, and centralization of the Student Council created by the Dowling proposal with funding and policy-making power. Vote yeas on both the Dowling proposal and the student policy-making question for a real change--a change for the better.

The writers are past and present members of the Student Assembly, CHUL. ERG. RUS and the Freshman Council.

Policy-Making Authority