He says he doesn’t favor council bills of a particular ideology; his only requirement is that they “have a tangible effect on issues that concern students.”

This de-politicizing of the council is a natural consequence of the agenda Gusmorino has imposed on the council over the past year.

If only issues that directly affect students fall under the council’s purview, there is little to define a council conservative from a council liberal.

Barkley says Gusmorino has tried to redefine the council’s focus and “promote a whole new way of thinking about the council that left that old [political] debate behind.”

“The left-right aspect of it is disappearing,” Barkley says.

But even if Gusmorino has tried to make room for all political ideologies under his student services tent, some lament that the council has narrowed its view and no longer speaks out on issues like the “official” voice of the students should, they say.

“Student government activism has produced some great achievements all across the country, and it is a shame that because of a few loud voices and a tradition of ‘student services,’ our council shies away from issues that are important to students and have been fodder for student governments for hundreds of years,” liberal stalwart Smith says.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu