"Vote for me--I'll do your homework," may be replaced by "Open the final clubs' doors to women," when students draw up their campaign posters for the Undergraduate Council next fall. Or as likely some posters could say, "Don't worry about clubs, improve Harvard's social life."

After a year when the council took up--only to later tone down--controversial campus debates, like a Mather senior's complaint against one of the nine all-male final clubs, council members say the next election could require candidates to devise a rudimentary political platform for election.

"I never liked elections waged with cute slogans and name recognition," said second semester Council Vice Chairman Jeffrey A. Cooper '90. "I'd welcome a move away from that, and I think we're seeing one."

The debate over the council's proper role is by no means a new one. When the council was created in 1982, the founders believed the body should consider a wide range of issues and should not resist issues which might be considered political, said former Council Chairman Brian R. Melendez '86, an original member of the council.

But a growing segment within the council argued that to best serve students the council should avoid sharp political disputes by restricting its role to the social and services realm. Many council-watchers point to the term of Council Chairman Brian C. Offutt '87 two years ago as the last time these issues divided the council.

After more than 60 percent of Harvard students urged the council to advocate divestment in a campus-wide referendum in January 1986, 18 council members--including Melendez--said the referendum was a vote of no-confidence in Offutt's allegedly apolitical stance.

But a month later, the council elected Offutt to a second semester term as chairman. The fact that Offutt could win reelection as an opponent of the referendum indicates that the council could be used to promote certain political causes, while the body as a whole has resisted a political tag.

This year, for example, the council endorsed a gay rights resolution that called for the appointment of a special dean and tutors in the houses to address the needs of gay students. But earlier in the semester it balked at endorsing a sexism complaint against the Fly Club pursued by Lisa J. Schkolnick '88, with some representatives once again arguing that the council should not take political stands because members were not elected for their political views.

Since Schkolnick filed her complaint with the Massachusettes Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) in December, charging that the all-male Fly Club illegally discriminates against women, the council considered several resolutions related to her case.

At a meeting in February featuring a speech in defense of Schkolnick by noted Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz, the body voted to give Schkolnick $250 to help her pursue her complaint, but at the same time declined by a narrow 40-35 margin to issue a statement of moral support for her.

Council leaders who successfully argued for the funding but not the official endorsement, said in the February meeting that the council should ensure that Schkolnick receives a fair hearing, but could not take sides in a legal dispute between students. The Mather senior, who is being represented for free by a Boston law firm, needed the money to pay for administrative costs in filing the complaint with MCAD.

At its last session of the year, the council tabled a final club resolution which did not mention Schkolnick's complaint and simply called on the clubs to admit women.

Several council members also voiced the perennial concern that council members were not elected for their political views, and therefore should not act on political issues. But according to council members that argument may become outmoded if students do indeed run on the basis of their political views in the future.

Some members of this year's council see discussions like the ones about the Fly Club suit and a resolution calling on Harvard to stay neutral in May's union election as the beginning of a new role for the council--that of a forum and focal point of student opinion on controversial issues that have divided the campus.

"I have the image of the council as about a town meeting, and I think we've worked toward that. The council by itself has no power, and just some influence," said Council Chairman Evan J. Mandery '89. "The way we do accomplish things is by achieving or creation consensus on issues."