In recent months, the Undergraduate Council has been concerned with establishing itself as the voice of the student body.

But Edward "Ted" A. Swasey '00 and Jared S. White '00, council outsiders running for the student government's highest offices, want to refocus the council, giving it a more limited role while empowering student groups and House committees.

Rather than organizing specific events and making recommendations on policies, Swasey, who is running for president, says the council should play a supporting role on campus.

"The U.C. seems to speak for students when the students could better speak for themselves," Swasey says. "The student groups are the political ones. We'd like to see them empowered so that they can get across their points."

Swasey also questions the council's ability to represent the campus effectively.

"It's tough for U.C. to make a blanket statement, because there are so many different people here," he says.

Swasey and White's vision for the council also calls for decentralization.

"The U.C. should be refocused as a hub of information. Student groups are doing a great job. And they can be a lot more powerful," White says.

The candidates call for taking the council out of the driver's seat in planning campus-wide events.

"We'd like to give grants to student groups and House committees to have events...give grants to organizations to run Spring Fest. This way, the event would be more diverse and more successful," Swasey says.

Recasting the council as a facilitator, Swasey calls for partnerships with other campus groups.

"We'd like to focus on work with student groups and House committees: simplify the way to found a student group, help set up bank accounts for new groups, ease the shift of power from year to year in groups that have had trouble with this in the past and advocate greater office space," he says.

"We look at doing things a little differently."

White says he hopes the council can also increase cooperation between student groups.

"We should be opening dialogues. The U.C. shouldn't be as aloof. We'll be working to make this a better place to go to school," he said.