When students think of the Undergraduate Council, does gender discrimination or Yale tailgates come first to their minds?

As students head to the polls today in the election for the council's president and vice-president, the direction of the council--and of its increasingly prominent president--is at stake.

Observers say this race could be a watershed.

Students will vote whether to revert to the council's more traditional focus on student services or to push forward the socially progressive bent forged by current president Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 and her predecessor, Robert M. Hyman '98.

Eric M. Nelson '99, a council member for the last three years and a Crimson editor, said there is a contradiction in popular elections because the president is largely in charge of internal day-to-day affairs yet is now elected by the campus at large.

"The role of the president and the image of the president are very much out of sync right now," he said.

The 1996 reform of the council, which made the council presidency a popularly elected position, helped solidify the position of Hyman--who was elected president twice by the council and then once by the students at large, with Rawlins as his vice-president.

"It's safe to say his style changed," said Stephen E. Weinberg '99, who served two terms on the council and is now its technology coordinator. "He seemed to think he had a higher mandate when it came from the popular elections."

Hyman, observers say, began to use the presidency as a bully pulpit for liberal issues such as anonymous HIV testing at University Health Services, registration of voters for local elections, sponsoring Rape Aggression Defense classes, divesting the University's investments in Nigeria and launching of an ethnic-studies program.

In the meantime, the focus and prestige of much of the council's work shifted from its Campus Life Committee (CLC)--which puts on social events like Springfest and provides services such as shuttles to Logan Airport--to the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), which can recommend policy changes to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 and to President Neil L. Rudenstine and other administrators.

The SAC has become a springboard for symbolic positions on issues like same-sex commitment ceremonies in Memorial Church and the protection of transgendered students under the council's anti-discrimination rules.

But the slate of candidates in this year's elections notably lacks an easily recognizable figure.

For the first time in recent memory, none of the candidates has previously run for president or vice-president. And Rawlins' decision not to seek a second term leaves the race an open field.

"It's a quieter group, just in terms of looking at the personalities that used to be running, much less of a personality type of campaign," Weinberg said.

"Many of these people have been very active on the council, but they haven't been as much of an icon for council leadership."