And while downsizing will create more competitive council elections, some say it will also stop interested students from contributing to the council's work.

Gusmorino says he is interested in figuring out constitutional remedies to this problem. One suggestion proposed at the committee's last meeting on March 22 was to allow non-council members to be voting members of council committees.

The council must also figure out how to deal with the student body's decision to reject the proposed term bill increase from $20 to $50.

Since available funding has not kept pace with the growth of student groups, many members of the council's Finance Committee and of the council at large say something in the grants structure needs to give.

Some Constitutional Committee members suggest using the constitutional reform process to make the grant application requirements more rigorous. Other suggest the Constitutional Committee should propose cutting back on the size of the grants it does give--although the John P. Marshall '00, the Finance Committee's chair, says groups already receive less than half of what the request, on average.

On the other hand, some argue that the council is not giving out enough money to student groups. Finance Committee Vice Chair Jeffrey A. Letalien '01 says he thinks the council ought to reverse its policy of not funding groups that are making profits.

Such a policy "of encouraging fiscal irresponsibility" gives student groups an incentive not to fundraise and to run up debts and lessens the number of students who benefit from grants, according to Letalien.