When DeFotis’ contract was up for renewal last semester, a number of the singers tried to dissuade the College from renewing it.

At a meeting last semester with a committee convened to examine DeFotis’ contract renewal and the state of the choruses in general, representatives of the Holden Choruses and the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus—which DeFotis also conducts—made their preference known.

“At least a sizeable group of people probably would have been happy if the contract had not been renewed,” says Thomas L. Devlin ’04, the manager of Glee Club Lite—the a cappella subsidiary of the Glee Club.

The choir representatives were invited to speak at the meeting by Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71, who organized the committee.

Although their findings are confidential, Illingworth did renew DeFotis’ contract for an additional two years.

Illingworth, who recently met individually with executives of the three Holden Choruses to discuss the conductors and the system as a whole, says the decision allows them to plan for the future.

“Now we know that Constance will be with us, we’re in the process of deciding what’s going to be best,” he says.

While some Chorus members say they hope the system will improve, others are more cynical.

“I don’t think any major changes will be planned for the near future,” says a senior member of Holden Choruses.

“It’s such a shame that we can’t just be a choir and sing,” says a senior member of the Glee Club executive committee.

“There’s so much politics involved. We just want to make music,” he says.

—Staff writer Nicholas F. Josefowitz can be reached at josefow@fas.harvard.edu.