Cabot House roommates John A. Burton '01 and Scott A. Resnick '01 say they want to put the Undergraduate Council in philosophical reverse and return to a more activist stance.

The candidates describe the council as a broken vehicle that will not take the student body anywhere without major repairs.

"Everyone is talking about the destination for the council, but nobody recognizes that the council has no engine," says Burton, who is in his second year on the council and currently serves as treasurer.

For Burton and Resnick, reforming the council means taking it off the depoliticized track it has been following under President Beth A. Stewart '00.

"This year we've seen a real focus on bagged lunches, keycard access and cable," says Resnick, who is a Crimson editor and is in his first semester on the council. "In focusing our efforts on those things we've missed out on everything else."

Burton and Resnick support creating an ethnic studies concentration and a multicultural student center, as well as increasing Faculty diversity.

But they say focusing on more political issues does not mean they are not interested in student services.

"We care more about political issues, but we want a council that addresses all types of issues," Burton says. "We are not reacting against Fly-By lunches. We are reacting against the idea that this is the only thing that students can get out of their U.C. We can still have student services, but that will never be the sole emphasis of our council."

Burton and Resnick's commitment to activism helped to earn them an endorsement from Perspective, "Harvard-Radcliffe's Liberal Monthly," and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.

They have also received a partial vote of support from ALLIANCE, an umbrella organization of progressive student groups.

"Issues like that tend to increase student power," says Shai M. Sachs '01, outreach coordinator of Perspective.

The team's call for reform also extends to the structure of the council itself.

Burton and Resnick say the current council is a broken and indirect pipeline between the student body and the administration.

"The council is too big," Burton says. "About a third of our council is missing in action. An organized body of 60 is able to do a lot." There are now about 90 members on the council.

To improve communication between the student body and the administration, Burton and Resnick plan to require council representatives to hold office hours in their dorm or House.