Second, Kaplan would mandate that all council representatives periodically e-mail a certain designated group of students about council activity.
"They would be able to tell their group of students what's been going on and could ask them for their comments and concerns," Kaplan said.
Third, he hopes the council will analyze more issues from a cost-benefit perspective.
For example, he says that the council should have done some more homework in preparing a recent bill calling for extended hours in the Tex-Mex restaurant in Loker Commons.
"The council has been devaluing their own currency by making demands and decrees on different issues," Kaplan says. "They don't have the research to be more persuasive."
Kaplan is also relying on what he says is a unique position: being an outsider who knows the process well.
Kaplan has never attended a council meeting. But he says his experience as a Crimson central administration reporter has helped prepare him to be council president.
"I've really used The Crimson as my window into what the council's doing," Kaplan says. "Because I covered the central administration, I've had more contact with deans and administrators than almost all of the current council representatives."
How They Voted
On certain bills, the U.C. records how each of its members votes. The table shows how the candidates profiled today voted on four key issues: the institution of popular elections; a request that Harvard replace all references of "freshman" with "first-year"; a request that Harvard remove the ROTC commissioning ceremony from the Yard; and gender neutrality of the U.C. constitution. YESTERDAY: Profiles of presidential candidates John J. Appelbaum '97, Matthew B. Bakal '97, Joseph G. Cleemann '98, Rudd W. Coffey '97 and Adam D. Green '98 TODAY: Profiles of presidential candidates Jason D. Hill '97, Robert M. Hyman '98-'97, Benjamin R. Kaplan '99-'98, Michael R. Petitpas '95-'97, Edward B. Smith III '97 and the vice presidential candidates