Men Needed Now On Council Says Campbell's Reply

Replying to the Revisionist charges of "undemocratic" election procedures, Council president Levin H. Campbell '48, in a statement made last night, asserted that "the Council does not intend to limp along for a month or more, leaving undone much that is of real importance to the welfare of the student body."

Campbell defended the early election and unorthodox nominating procedure (labelled as a self-perpetuating move on Friday by the Revisionists) on the grounds that the Council was at present four men under strength. He cited three major committees -- Extra-Curricular, Housing, and Student Finance--as being swamped with work and "unable to function effectively since every available Council member is already occupied with other matters."

"The Council would be grossly derelict if it ignored for the next month much of the important work before it," the Council president said. "In order not to do so, the Council must be brought to full strength as soon as possible."

Stating that, "neither I nor anyone else has the right arbitrarily to by-pass the constitution," he observed that the only legitimate way to bring the Council up to its quota was by the existing constitution, which must remain valid until it has properly been replaced or amended.

Cannot Change Constitution

He admitted, however, that the Council has deviated from its own constitution by forming the nominating committees on a House rather than on a class basis, but said that the deviation was hardly "arbitrary" since "the post-war class mix-up makes class nominations wholly impractical."

Campbell further agreed with the revisionists that the system of appointing a nominating committee was a poor one and professed to be looking forward to seeing it replaced in the new constitution. He reiterated that he had no authority to put aside the constitution at will.

The new constitution to be redrawn up by the Constitutional Committee will, according to Campbell, provide for a method of transitions between the new and old constitutions and will decide whether present Council members shall complete their normal terms.