Mather House Turns Down CRR Election Procedures

By a margin of only ten votes, Mather House last night defeated a referendum proposing a new method of selecting student representatives for the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR). Mather House will therefore not send nominees to the CRR.

To Attend

Fewer than two-thirds of the House students participated in voting down the CRR referendum (98 to 108) that Dunster House had defeated two days age. Mather House committee secretary, Hugh Ducklow '72, said. "Mather House had anticipated the referendum before the Dunster results but Dunster voting brought things to a head."

House committee chairman, Rohan Weerasinghe '72, said he had expected the vote to be very close. "The results could have gone either way depending on house attendance at dinner," Weerasinghe said. "The House committee will follow through with the results and not choose the 11-man panel."

Similar Statements

Statements similar to those passed out Tuesday at Dunster favoring and opposing the referendum were also distributed at, Mather. "We made every effort to avoid taking a political stance as a House committee on the issue of the CRR," Ducklow said. "We were trying to be merely administrators and allow students themselves to decide the fate of the CRR representatives for Mather rather than let a select few [the 11-man panel] decide for them."

F. Skiddy Von Stade '38. Master of Mather House, and Kenneth M. Deitch '60. Mather Senior Tutor and CRR member, were both unavailable for comment.

Tuesday night, the Freshman Council voted eight to seven to refer the CRR referendum to their classmates. The freshmen, however, have adopted a different wording for their referendum.

The freshmen statement simply reads, "Are you in favor of sending representatives to the CRR?" Voting will take place next Monday at dinner and Tuesday at lunch on the second floor of the Union to decide whether freshmen will send representatives to the CRR.

David Samuels '74, Freshman Council member, said, however, that the referendum may not be binding. "We plan to leave room for abstention votes on the ballots." Samuels said, "and if we find that a majority of freshmen are undecided, the Freshman Council will review the matter at their next Tuesday meeting."

The freshmen, unlike the House and graduate student organizations, would choose a 15-man rather than 11-man panel. Statements about the CRR and its history will be passed out at the union this weekend.

The only other House considering a referendum at this time is Quincy, which will hold its voting next Tuesday.