Winthrop House Calls Referendum On CRR Boycott

The Winthrop House Committee voted last night to hold a binding referendum of Winthrop students next week to decide whether to begin the process of nominating students to serve on the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR).

Members of the House committee said last night they decided to put the decision to a referendum because they did not believe they should decide on their own to continue the boycott.

The vote in the House committee was nine to one in favor of holding the referendum.

If Winthrop students vote not to continue the boycott of the CRR, the House committee chairman will choose an 11-member panel of Winthrop sophomores and juniors at random to begin the nominating process.

The panel would then nominate one or two of its members to serve on the CRR or decide not to nominate any students to the CRR.

The Winthrop House committee also voted to distribute information about the CRR and the student boycott to members of the House before the referendum.

Members of the House committee said last night that students generally know very little about the CRR or the reasons behind the student boycott of the CRR, and that they hoped students would find out about the CRR's history before voting on the referendum.

No Recommendation

The House committee considered making a recommendation to the House on whether or not to continue the CRR boycott, but decided not to make any statement about the boycott.

The Faculty established the CRR in 1970 as a student-Faculty committee to discipline students involved in protest demonstrations but students have refused to serve on the CRR since 1971, when the Faculty changed its structure and procedure.

At that time, the Faculty changed the CRR's composition to include seven Faculty members, four undergraduates, two graduate students, and one senior tutor. The original CRR was made up of three students and three Faculty members.

Emotionally Incited

In a similar referendum last month Mather House voted 122-111 to select the 11-member panel to begin the process of nominating students to the CRR.

The panel will meet later this week to decide whether to nominate students to the CRR, William H. Hammett '77, a member of the panel, said last night