Davis said she wanted to ensure the council's "legitimacy" through the referendum, adding that she disaproved of the council's "back door way" of implementing the fee hike.

The council initially rejected Davis' petition even though it had been signed by more than 10 percent of the undergraduate population.

According to the council's constitution, "any question can be committed to a referendum or poll by the council or by a petition signed by one-tenth of the Undergraduates."

But Gabay moved to block four of Davis's five referendum issues, saying that each individual question had to be supported by more than 600 signatures.

Davis and Gabay each brought their cases before Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III and Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57.

Epps threatened to intervene and force the council to conduct the referendum. But Davis was already organizing a second petition effort and finally succeeded in placing all five issues on the ballot according to Gabay's rules.

The council conducted the referendum, but it was marred by charges of misconduct and fraud--including council members allegedly intimidating voters and leaving ballots unsecured in the council office.

This time, Gabay himself charged that the council had violated its own bylaws. He asked the council to invalidate the results and authorize a new referendum to be administered by an outside group.

Undergraduates overwhelmingly rejected all five council-supported positions in this second referendum. But since less than a quarter of the students voted ,the council overruled its parliamentarian's decision that the referendum be binding.

At Gabay's urging however, the council did ultimately rescind the term bill fee hike on its own.

Vice President Censured

In may, the council brought recall proceedings against Vice President Joshua D. Liston '95 for failing to enforce the council's constitutionally mandated attendance policy.

The recall effort failed, but the council did censure the vice president--an action that was later invalidated by the council parliamentarian for failure to follow proper procedure.

And Hassen A. Sayeed '96, chair of the student affairs committee, resigned his seat at the last meeting of the year after being criticized for recording a telephone conversation between himself and Liston without Liston's knowledge.

At the same meeting, the council passed a resolution recommending that Davis and three Crimson staff members be sent before the Administrative Board for "trespassing."