Fight Mounts Over HCUA Constitution

The approach of today's student referendum on the fate of the Harvard Council for Undergraduate Affairs has brought forth a series of last-minute moves and counter-moves by various groups, both for and against the HCUA's proposed constitution.

The Executive Committee of the HCUA met last night in an emergency session to reply to opposition charges that the new Constitution would not meet the demands of the student body for potent represenation. It claimed that the proposed bicameral legislature would be an effective means of increasing undergraduate influence in the University.

Tuesday, opponents of the proposed constitution issued a statement distributed in the Union and in House dining halls urging defeat of the HCUA's proposal.

No Real Choice

The ad hoc committee had been quoted as saying that it wanted, not to abolish the present Council, but to strengthen it into an effective representative body. Wednesday it adopted an even stronger stand and demanded that the Council be replaced by an entirely new form of government to be chosen in a new referendum. The HCUA's new constitution, it maintained, was really the same as the old one and offered no real choice to Harvard undergraduates.

A Freshman Committee for Fair Representation was organized yesterday and distributed leaflets to all freshmen last night. It emphasizes what it claims to be inadequate representation for the freshman class in the proposed body.

The referendum will be held in House and Union dining halls during lunch and dinner.