Student Picked by Dudley For New Rights Committee That Does Not Yet Exist

Dudley House prematurely elected a student representative yesterday to the Permanent Committee on Rights and Responsibilities-a body which does not yet exist.

The Committee of Fifteen is currently working on the final structure of the permanent group which will replace the interim rights committee. That committee has handled student discipline since September in cases of disruptions of University functions.

Alan Heimert '49, a member of the Committee of Fifteen, said he hopes that the proposal for the new committee, in addition to a revised Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities, will be prepared in time for the next Faculty meeting.

Crooks Unaware

Dudley House Master Thomas E. Crooks, who scheduled the election. said he was not aware that the permanent committee had not yet been approved by the Faculty.

Kinby Wilcox '70, a member of the Committee of Fifteen, called the election "a mistake in timing." However, he said the new committee will probably still honor the election "because it was a direct election and probably not far off from what we will recommend."

At the Dudley meeting-which drew 30 of the House's 200 members-a motion was narrowly defeated that Dudley boycott the election "because of the injustices which [the Interim Committee on Rights and Responsibilities has committed against students."

Dudley-which was selected by lottery along with Quincy House to elect the two upperclassmen on the new committee-chose Michael A. Tobias '71 to the committee with the stipulation that he serve only if the committee will allow charged students to make their hearings public.

The lottery and Tobias' election were held in accordance with a plan suggested earlier this year by the Harvard Undergraduate Council. However, this plan also lacks Faculty approval.

Quincy House had planned to hold a referendum asking House members whether they wanted to elect a representative to the new committee. However, the House Committee cancelled the referendum when it discovered that the new committee had not gained Faculty approval.

"Before we send a representative we want to be sure that the majority of House members consider the disciplinary body to be legitimate." Edward Maddox '71, a Quincy House committee member, said last night.

The HUC election plan gives positions on the permanent committee each year to two Houses. These are to be awarded by lottery the first year, and thereafter in such a way that over a ten-year period each of the ten Houses has representatives for two years.