Several Senior Associates and SAC members met this past weekend to begin planning ways to incorporate student involvement in the IOP, now that SAC will be eliminated.

Pryor will meet with SAC members again this Tuesday to discuss their reaction to his decision and begin to plan a reconstitution of the group.

"Because people care so much about the IOP, there have been many emotions involved in the changes, but at this point everyone realizes that we need to move forward and work on a vision for next semester," McCarthy said.

Travis F. Batty '02, whose senior associate position in the IOP had also been abolished, has drawn up a plan for a new structure. Most important to students, Batty said, is that the format maintains student input in the direction of the IOP.

Batty said students would work to insure that students--not just staff--maintain a role in the planning of IOP projects.

"Pryor's proposal...limits involvement to a more instrumental role under the central staff, like hanging posters," he said. "We want to contribute to the idea creation role, and ultimately, we want a coordinated relation with the staff and not a subordinated relation."

SAC Vice-Chair Richard Cooper '01 said he hoped the IOP would maintain its strengths even as it reforms its leadership.

"[The IOP] brings together undergraduates and practitioners, so that the undergrads learn more about politics and find inspiration for careers in public service," he wrote in an e-mail message. "The best way to do this is by focusing on the interests of the undergraduate, and I hope this focus remains clear."