Despite Agarwalla’s and Oliveri’s objections, the council passed the bill 27-4 as the meeting came to a premature close at the behest of two security guards.
The council unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Aaron D. Chadbourne ’06 that urged the College to simplify the process by which students can have departmental courses count for their Core requirement. The bill came in the midst of the College’s curricular review, which has proposed an elimination of the Core curriculum.
“[Dean of the Faculty William C.] Kirby is going to bat for us,” said Chadbourne, who sits on the Core program’s subcommittee on Literature and the Arts.
In another Mahan-sponsored resolution, the council urged the College to simplify the process by which student organizations can reserve meeting space in the Houses and encourage Houses to be open to events not sponsored by one of their residents.
“What we’re asking for is a committee of people in the Houses, people in student groups [and] people from University Hall to think holistically about the Houses,” Mahan said.
The resolution added that the College should create a standardized online form, similar to that currently used by Lowell and Leverett Houses, through which groups could reserve space, and that fees should not be charged for use of the rooms.
The council approved the bill, which was also supported by the presidents of the Black Students Association and Fuerza Latina, without objection.
The council’s Constitutional Revision Committee (CRC) presented its proposed new constitution yesterday, to update what Mahan called the “essentially useless constitution that we currently have.”
“To be completely honest, I’m not 100 percent satisfied with [the new constitution],” Mahan said. Nevertheless, he added, “it does a great job to clean up our constitution, which is an absolute mess.”
The new constitution would give the council’s three committees more freedom in determining their own structure than they currently have and revise the council’s non-discrimination policy.
“This gives us a mechanism so the council can discuss [accusations of discrimination], bring in facts [and] bring in information,” said Teo P. Nicolais ’06.
Jack P. McCambridge ’06, who chairs the council’s Campus Life Committee, objected that the CRC had not consulted sufficiently with council members before issuing its recommendations.
Vice President Michael R. Blickstead ’05 said after the meeting that council members’ views were known from the review process that began last year.
“Last year’s review...created that discussion,” Blickstead said. “This year they knew what was popular [and] what wasn’t.”
The council’s current constitution mandates that voting on constitutional amendments must continue until the next council meeting, so members—who overwhelmingly supported the revision in the initial vote yesterday—have until Saturday to change their votes. Two-thirds of council members must vote, and three-quarters of those voting must support the change, for an amendment to take effect.
In other business, the council approved its final grants package of the school year last night, allocating over $16,000 in 99 grants to student groups, and $500 for a tailgate at the Sept. 18 football game. The council also voted to permanently join the Ivy Council, an organization of Ivy League student councils that Harvard left in 2001 and temporarily rejoined in March.
—Staff writer Joshua D. Gottlieb can be reached at jdgottl@fas.harvard.edu.