Radcliffe Government Association May Decide College Social Rules

The Radcliffe Government Association will take over the job of establishing all College social regulations if the proposed new constitution is approved by the student body. Formerly, the Board of Hall Presidents and Frances R. Brown, Dean of Residence and Student Affairs, decided on social rules.

The new constitution will be presented to student leaders and members of the Administration at the Cedar Hill Conference today. Voting will take place in the dormitories next Sunday and Monday, following discussions to be held in the halls this week. Results will be announced Tuesday.

Dean Brown stressed last night that if the new constitution passes, some rules will still be subject to approval by the college Administration. "In a great many areas social matters are related to College policy," she explained. As an example, the cited sign-in rules "which impinge on Radcliffe's relationships with parents, alumnae, and other outside groups."

Judicial Body

Under the new constitution the Board of Hall Presidents would act only as a judicial body, considering individual interactions of the rules laid down by the RGA and approved by the Administration. In response to objections that the presidents would be "left out" of legislative decisions, the Student Government Association voted yesterday to include three hall presidents, one from each House Center, on the Council of the RGA.

Approving the decision, Dean Brown noted that "the head residents were concerned about this omission" in the original draft of the constitution. "The feeling is that partly in an endeavor to lighten the load of the dormitory presidents and to remedy a confusing governmental set-up, the SGA failed to take cognizance of the fact that the presidents have the most complete information on what is going on in the residential units."

Another Criticism

She also criticized the revised constitution for failing to include a representative from Board of Hall on the Executive Board of the Association. Composed of the seven officers chosen in College-wide elections, the Executive Board would administer legislation and set the agenda for each meeting of the RGA Council.

"Any group that makes the agenda for another group inevitably influences its policy," Dean Brown declared. "The hall presidents are best equipped to foresee operational difficulties which might result from proposed legislation."

At the SGA meeting. Mrs. Ruth Wyler Messinger '62, author of the new constitution, defended the decision to de-emphasize the role of Board of Hall in governing the College. "One of SGA's big problems has been the duplication of its work by small autonomous bodies. We want to make the RGA Council the sole legislating body and see if it can function effectively."