Council votes against committee additions

Student members of University Council scored a minor victory last month in their ongoing battle to maintain a student voice on several Council committees. Council members overwhelmingly rejected a revision of the by-laws at their December meeting that would have increased the number of faculty on the Bookstore Committee from six to eight members, giving faculty twice as many votes as students. Graduate and undergraduate students said the revision would further dilute their voices on committees, a process which they said began in November when Council voted to add two faculty members to the Safety and Security Committee. Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Mitchell Winston, who called the recent changes "dangerous," urged Council to make no further changes decreasing the proportion of student committee members. "We don't see any reason why students don't deserve equal representation," Winston said. But City Planning Professor Anthony Tomazinis said faculty members are more vital to committees because they have "institutional memory" beyond the four years of students. He downplayed the danger of diluting student voices, saying faculty and students often vote together in committees rather than splitting into separate factions. Molecular Biology Professor Emeritus Robert Davies, who is a former Council member, said Council guidelines specify that the number of faculty on Council committees should be equal to the number of administrators and students on the committee plus one. For example, if there are a total of seven administrators and students on the committee, there should be eight faculty members. Currently, the Bookstore Committee has four students, three administrators and six faculty members and does not meet Council regulations. In other business, Council members debated a new comprehensive harassment policy which would protect "all legally protected categories of persons." Most Council members questioned the need for the new code since the University already has both racial and sexual harassment policies. The proposed policy would cover harassment on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and status as a disabled or Vietnam-era veteran. Some Council members called the administration hypocritical for trying to stem harassment against homosexuals while maintaining the campus' Reserve Officer Training Corps, which prevents homosexuals from participtaing in its activities. "We can't even follow our own [anti-discrimination policy]," said Graduate and Professional Students Assembly member James Colgate. "Why have these policies if no one is going to enforce them?" Many Council members also said the two existing codes are sufficient, saying the University should pay more attention to educating people rather than creating new policies. "All these rules and regulations tend to trivialize the issues," said Chemistry Professor Madeleine Joullie. "I am for educating people." But Tomazinis, who in the past has spoken out against instituting harassment policies, said he was confused by Council's "contradiction." "We either support protection for all groups who are harrassed or we do not support any groups," he said. "[Those opposed to the policy are saying] it is OK to protect two groups, us, but not five groups, them." Council members also discussed a proposal to abolish the Council's Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid. The proposal will be voted on at next week's meeting. Students said they were also concerned about the loss of their voice on this committee, which Provost Michael Aiken said overlaps with his committee and a Faculty Senate committee that both deal with undergraduate admissions. Faculty Senate Past-Chairperson Almarin Phillips said that the committees that exist overlap "substantially" and waste faculty and administrators' time. But students criticized the lack of input they would have if the Council committee were eliminated. Currently, both undergraduate and graduate students sit on the committee, while the only student representative on the Provost Committee is one undergraduate. There are no students on the Faculty Senate committee.

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