The Undergraduate Assembly sparked controversy last night when it passed a proposal to increase the number of University Council seats allotted to under-represented student groups.
At their weekly meeting, the UA voted to take away the council seat that had been allotted for the Nominations and Elections Committee, and the body created another seat that will be filled by a yet-to-be-determined group.
The NEC -- which is normally responsible for allocating student group seats on U. Council -- has now been asked to give the two seats to student groups of its choice for the 2002-2003 school year. However, the UA retains final say over how the seats are distributed and can choose to assign them internally instead.
Last week, the NEC decided to award the three available seats for the new school year to the Performing Arts Council, the Asian Pacific Students Coalition and the Panhellenic Council.
However the InterFraternity Council and the Latino Coalition -- groups which sat on the council last year -- were denied the ability to continue their council representation.
But the UA denies that the purpose of this new proposal, which was drafted by Nursing senior Kisimbi Thomas, was to grant these two groups the seats they were denied.
"The misperception that I want to dispel is that the UA expanded the number of seats we allocate to student groups in order to accommodate groups that were not given them," UA Chairwoman Dana Hork said.
In fact, the three UA members who are affiliated with the IFC -- Engineering sophomore Matt Lattman, College sophomore Jason Levy and Wharton senior James Ku -- voted against the proposal.
Additionally, NEC officials said they will open up the two new seats to applications from new campus groups instead of awarding them to the two groups who have already applied and been denied.
Some controversy still remains, though, as to why the NEC chose not to simply give the seats to the IFC and the Latino Coalition.
NEC Chairwoman Anne Hankey stated at the UA meeting last night that "none of [the NEC] felt that the rest of the candidates were appropriate," and that "while all the candidates were wonderful... that does not mean the UC was the best place for them."
IFC president Conor Daly, a College junior, expressed frustration with both the secretive nature of the NEC's decision-making process, as well as its neglect to pick his organization to sit on the council this year.
"The NEC are a bunch of no-talent ass-clowns," Daly said. "The fact is the UA can give up 20 of their seats, but with what the chair said tonight, there's every indication that the Latino Coalition and the IFC wouldn't get those seats."
However, the NEC stands behind its decision to open up the two seats to applications.
"The reason we are not taking the IFC and the Latino Coalition is because the UA's goal of doing this is to let more voices be heard, and we don't think that it would be fair to give them the seats... without letting other groups apply," Hankey said.
And Hankey claims that this does not mean the groups have no possibility of retaining their seats.
"We're going to 100 percent encourage them to apply again," added Hankey.
The NEC's decision will be made in a closed meeting, and the process will remain confidential.
"It's not a transparent process," Daly said. "Their deliberation takes place behind closed doors. There's no real investigation."
The secretive nature of the NEC starkly contrasts the UA's open-door policy at its weekly meetings. However, Hankey says there is a reason behind this format.
"The whole point of the NEC is that we're unbiased," Hankey said. "It's not fair for us to go running around after the interviews and say X group did this."
