The council called an entrance of the council office by Davis, a reporter and a photographer trespassing and called for disciplinary action. The three had entered the office to investigate allegations of impropriety in the conducting of the second referendum.
Otherwise Productive
Internal battles and the wrangling over the referendum in the last two months of the council's twelfth session overshadowed what was otherwise an extreme productive year for the council.
After unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with music groups Digable Planets and Blind Melon, the council sponsored a large scale, sold-out concert by They Might Be Giants in April.
A council-sponsored comedy show by Saturday Night Live star David Spade also out Sanders Theatre. And the council successfully ran Yardfest, a spring carnival designed to foster undergraduate unity that organizers hope will become an annual tradition.
The finance committee awarded a record-high amount of money to student groups through its semi-annual grants process.
And the council's proposal to reform the academic calendar to complete fall examinations before the winter recess was pushed through the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE), although the Faculty Council ultimately rejected it last month (please see related story, this page).
A Tame Fall
When Gabay was elected president of the council in the fall, beating Davis, Melissa Garza '94, and Mark D. McKay '94, many members thought the council would retain its "old boy' image.
Garza, who was elected vice president, said before the election that she considered Gabay a "Mike Beys crony."
Beys, a senior, was a controversial figure during his tenure as council president last year. He and Garza have often battled over major issues of council governance and inclusiveness.
But Garza became a Gabay convert. Under Gabay's first administration the council experienced remarkably little internal dissent, successfully distributing grants funding free comedy concerts and airport shuttle buses, and presenting plans for evaluating teaching fellows.
The council was so turmoil-free, in fact that Gabay ran unopposed for president during second semester.
Council members and future presidential hopefuls said at the time that "good-guy Gabay" was unbeatable. And, before the debacles of the spring, he probably was.