Last night's third meeting of the Undergraduate Council was preceded by the first gathering of the council Women's Caucus, a group initiated by council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00 and first-year council member Rachel L. Brown '01.

The caucus, so far composed of Redmond, Brown and three other female council members, met for about one hour over dinner at Quincy House to discuss what the council can do to attract more female members and to better address the concerns of women on campus.

Redmond, the only female member of council's eight-person executive board, said she feels that too few women are interested in the council, which is two-thirds male this year.

Compared to previous years, a small number of women ran for council positions this year, and Redmond said she thinks the structure and reputation of the council may be off-putting to prospective female members.

Both Redmond and Brown said there are many issues facing women at Harvard right now. Most significant, they said, is the recent change of Radcliffe's status from college to research institute.

They said it is the council's responsibility to ensure that the many resources and services once offered by Radcliffe--including internship programs, mentoring and funding for student organizations--do not disappear as a result of this shift.

Brown said she hopes that the Women's Caucus will ensure that issues like the Radcliffe changeover, responsibility for women's safety, concerns about sexual assault and increasing the number of senior female faculty members will be addressed by the council despite the small number of women on the council itself.

This year, the ratio of female to male members is 23 to 66.