HDC to Decide Method of Choosing Executive Committee in Vote Today

The Harvard Dramatic Club will vote today on a new constitution which would place effective control of the organization-and of the Loeb season-in the hands of a non-effective, self-perpetuating executive committee, as proposed last week.

The vote was postponed a week to give Charles N. Ascheim '65, a leading opponent of the proposal, time to ask Robert H. Chapman, director of the Loeb, if an elected executive committee would be acceptable to him.

Chapman said it would not. Ascheim does not even plan to present a counter proposal. "The non-elective, self-perpetuating nature of the committee was the basis of my objections," he explained. "The rest of the proposal is fine."

Both Ascheim and the sponsors of the new constitution expect that the membership will approve it. According to John H. Anderson '66, a vote of one-half those attending tomorrow's meeting will be considered a sufficient mandate.

Artistic Enterprise

Explaining his position, Chapman said, "You can't run any kind of an artistic enterprise on a democratic basis. If everyone gets to vote for executive committee members, it gets to be a popularity contest."

Under the proposed constitution, the five-man executive committee would choose all plays for production in the Loeb. George Hamlin, associate director of the Loeb, Chapman, and the president of the HDC would meet with the committee, but none of those three would vote.

The constitution would include one provision for membership control. When executive committee posts become vacant, the committee would send out to the members a list of possible successors, consisting of at least as many names as there are vacancies. If two-thirds of the members oppose the election of any candidate he could not be appointed. If the number of candidate remaining exceeds the number of vacancies, the executive committee would then choose among them.