Redmond, who until recently was a Burton supporter, said that Burton's reputation on the council has been trampled by the allegations.

"The reason that special elections have become such a big deal is that John really does not have the support of the council," she said. "Usually, there's discussion."

In an argument on the council's public e-mail forum, UC-General, Burton initially refused to budge on the dates of the election. A slew of council members assailed his decision, saying that his timetable left too little time to publicize the elections.

"Considering that people are still working on finals, I'm not confident that we will do a good job in getting the word out," Griffin wrote in an e-mail message to the list.

In addition, under Burton's timetable, all the campaigning would have taken place over intersession.

"If you hold a campaign at Harvard but no one is there to hear it, does it solve our legitimacy problem? Or, for that matter, make a sound?" quipped Eliot House representative Todd E. Plants '01 in a subsequent e-mail.

Burton responded to the list in a manner that some representatives said they found off-putting and stubborn.