RUS, Trustees Confer, Agree on Compromise In 'Cliffe Constitution

Two days of discussions between Radcliffe Trustees and the new Radcliffe Union of Students failed to come up with any definite decisions on a new RUS constitution, but left the two groups closer to agreement than ever before, Deborah Batts '69, president of RUS, said yesterday.

From the tentative compromises worked out during the Friday night and Saturday morning meetings, RUS may soon draw up a new constitution to replace the one the Trustees vetoed two weeks ago, Batts said.

The conference was called last week to clarify the Trustees' objections to the proposed constitution. Two major issues were at stake:

* Possible student representation on the College Council--Radcliffe's highest governing body, similar to Harvard's Corporation. Cliffies were aiming for permanent voting seats on the Council, so "the administration wouldn't have to second-guess us," Batts said last week.

* "Autonomy" for RUS. Unlike its predecessors, RUS hoped to be free to change its organization and constitution without Council approval.

Although the conference took no official position on either demand, five panel meetings on Saturday morning produced compromise alternatives that may lead to a RUS constitution acceptable to the Trustees.

Explaining that a 1963 ruling limits Council membership to Radcliffe Trustees, Mary I. Bunting, president of Radcliffe, told the conference that official student membership on the Council was impossible. However, she said that students might sit in on Council meetings on a "permanent guest invitation" basis, and that students could join college Committees--such as those on Admissions Policy and Undergraduate Life--without official Council approval.

Mrs. Bunting also raised objections to complete RUS autonomy, saying that the Council could not legally give away its control of Radcliffe student government.

Batts objected to Mrs. Bunting's interpretation of "autonomy," saying that "Mrs. Bunting assumed we would demand an extreme version." Although Batts refused to specify how much autonomy RUS would request in its new constitution, she said "the type of autonomy we have in mind will certainly be more acceptable."