South House Affirms Plan To Break Boycott of CRR

The South House Committee last night reaffirmed its decision to send two student representatives to the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR). For the last ten years, upperclassmen have boycotted the CRR, a disciplinary body formed after the student protests of the late '60s.

By a unanimous vote, the House Committee passed a motion of confidence for its representatives and added the stipulation that they "work for the reform of CRR from within and without." House members will draft an open letter next week describing possible reforms and explaining their reasons for ending the boycott.

The Freshman Council and the Adams House Committee also decided to break the boycott last December, but freshmen soon rescinded their nominations, and Adams House students last week upheld the boycott in a referendum.

Serena H. Yoon '82, South House Committee chairman, said yesterday that House members chose to back the committee's previous decision because "it's too easy to slip into the run of boycott without really analyzing our position carefully."

Leonard Mendonca '83, who made the motion for the vote of confidence, and Edward C. Forst '82, are South House's representatives to the CRR.

House members yesterday cited several CRR procedures they considered objectionable, including the lack of notification of charges, the barring of lawyers from student hearings, and the use of hearsay evidence.

Debate centered on whether or not "you have to do it from the inside, since CRR won't be reformed from outside the system," Brian M. Covino '81, former House Committee chairman, said yesterday.

Several house members said that the CRR would prosecute students even if no undergraduate attended its meetings and that if the CRR included a student representative, it would serve their interests better than the University's Administrative Board, which currently hears disciplinary cases.

John F. Irving '83, another House resident, said yesterday that the political climate on campus now permitted a concerted effort for change before the CRR is actually employed to prosecute students.

He said that if students were brought before CRR over such a volatile issue as U.S. involvement in El Salvador, it would be too late to reform the system at that time.

The House Committee will consider the advice of the Student Assembly's Student Rights Committee in drafting its list of CRR reforms, Mendonca said.

These reforms will include rotating the chairmanship of the CRR between students and Faculty representatives, using a standard litigatory process on disciplinary matters, and allowing students the right to an appeal.

The House Committee has not yet decided whether it will recommend abolishing the CRR