But Seton says he thinks the council can work for small but important gains for undergraduates by working with College administrators. As the administration ultimately sets College policy, and not the council, he feels that a confrontational approach might prove counterproductive.

"It would certainly be a legitimate way to spend the year," he says. "But I don't know if the administration would chew that person up and spit him or her out, and then move on to the next person."

Seton says the issue of how to deal with the administration cuts right to the heart of the progressive-conservative divide. Confronting the administration is necessarily a progressive tactic, Seton says, while working for change within the current system is a conservative one.

"When you get on council, you make a choice between two different ways of representing your constituency," Seton says. "One, you can decide to tear everything up and work outside the system. Or two, you can decide to work within the system. I decided on the second, and agree with it."

But Redmond doesn't see why the council can't do both.

"Noah had this binary thing which was completely wrong," she says. "I think you can push an administrator and then smile at him the next day."

The Political Becomes Personal

When Redmond voiced these views publicly--views which undercut Seton's relationship with University Hall--the unconsulted president countered that the last thing the beleaguered student government needs is enemies within the administration--and criticism from within the council.