Supercouncil Proposal Needs Student Consent

The proposed Supercouncil- a new, united Harvard-Radcliffe student government- is almost a reality. All it needs now is $25,000 and the approval of the student body.

Harvard students will have an opportunity to approve the Supercouncil, and agree to tax themselves $10 each for its support, in a referendum at Spring registration February 2.

The fund raising proposal would bring in $50,000. Half would go to the Supercouncil, and $25,000 would help finance the activities of House committees and the Freshman Council, as recommended in the Homans Report. If approved, the annual $10 tax would be added to each student's term bill beginning next fall.

The tax is one of four proposals to be considered in the referendum. The other three are:

that the students who will be elected to four committees- the Student-Faculty committees on Houses and Undergraduate Life; Students and Community Relations; Undergraduate Education; and Rights and Responsibilities- form a new Supercouncil;

that if the Supercouncil has any money left after its administrative costs, it be allowed to endow undergraduate extra-curricular activities "for specific programs of benefit and service to undergraduates and only on a one-semester basis;"

that the students elected to the Supercouncil be empowered to act as the official undergraduate representative organization with an official constitution to be approved by undergraduates next fall.

Dear John

In a letter yesterday to John D. Hanify 71, president of the late Harvard Undergraduate Council and organizer of the referendum, Dean May said that if "a substantial majority" of students approve the proposals, he will recommend to the Corporation that the proposals- specifically the $10 term bill tax- be accepted.

The Supercouncil, if approved, will have 27 members: four Harvard freshmen, 20 upperclassmen, and three Cliffies from the Committee on Houses, from the four committees.

Whether the three Radcliffe representatives on these committees will join theSupercouncil is up to the Radcliffe Union of Students. RUS must also decide if it wishes to contribute money to the Supercouncil.

A seven-page prospectus of the four proposals will be distributed Friday to the Houses and the Freshman Union.