Fine Will Battle Past in Race for Future

It seems like it happened just yesterday.

An executive of the Undergraduate Council had spent the spring suffering relentless attacks for poor judgment and flouting of the rules.

After a brief hiatus, the executive returned in the fall, ran for vice president, and lost. In the eyes of many observers, his career on the council had effectively ended.

But the council member refused to give up. He regrouped, and worked hard to rebuild his image among council members. He proposed resolutions, stayed out of trouble and built himself a network of supporters.

By the end of January, the council member's popularity reached new highest. He decided to make a bid for the council's highest office.

Sound familiar? It should. It's the story, in a nutshell, of council presidential candidate Randall A. Fine '96.

But on the council, as in most campus organizations, history often repeats itself. Indeed, the very same pattern manifested itself in one of Fine's early mentors.

Michael P. Beys '94 was lambasted--and nearly impeached from his office as treasurer--for the financially disastrous De La Soul concert in the spring of 1992.

That fall, he ran for vice chair and was defeated by Maya G. Prabhu '94. In February 1993, Byes, who was still razzed as "De La Mike," ran for chair.

And he won.

Will Fine follow in the footsteps of the man who once referred to the current candidate as "one of the all time greats?"

If conventional wisdom holds up tomorrow, he most certainly will.

Many council members interviewed, including outgoing President David L. Hanselman '94-'95 believe Fine is the front runner in tomorrow night's race.

But like Beys, Fine is still being condemned for sins he may have committed in previous springs.

At Wednesday's council-sponsored debate, presidential candidate Brandon C. Gregoire '95 came forward with a host of allegations regarding Fine's conduct as secretary in the spring of 1993.

Gregoire, who dropped out of the race just a day later, charged that Beys, then-secretary Fine and then vice chair Hanselman had conspired to selectively boot delegates with excessive absences from the council.

This was done, Gregoire charged, so that the troika could secure the passage of the council's new constitution, penned largely by Fine himself.

Gregoire also said that Fine, as chair of the re-evaluation committee, had doctored the constitution--with-out the council's consent--following its passage.

Fine refuses to comment on any of the charges, except to say that they were "absolutely untrue."

He similarly denies wrong doing in connection with other allegations that have been made against him in his time at Harvard: buying votes in a Republican Club election in 1992; conflict of interest and gross violation of council rules in deciding to run the council's general election as acting vice president in the 1993; and deciding to keep for himself a large grant from the EPA that he obtained in the council's name.

A probe of Gregoire's allegations against Fine reveals that there may be more truth behind them than the presidential candidate would like to admit.

More than half a dozen current and former delegates who served on the council in 1993 say Fine, Hanselman and/or Beys boasted to them of a conspiracy to fix the constitutional vote.

In the words of one former council member, the three then-executives "were having a hard time reaching the quota" for a vote on the constitution.

"They started cutting people off the council," the source says. "Then they started realizing that some of the people they cut off were their natural supporters. I can't figure out whether it was Randy or Dave who suggested selectively expelling people."

Hanselman, who was vice-chair at the time, has repeatedly denied the charges, adding that then-secretary Fine had nothing to do with attendance.

Other members of the 11th council level even more charges. They say Fine arbitraily decided to change, delete or add clauses to the constitution while he was typing up the council-approved document.

"Certain things in the council constitution were never formally approved," says one former council member who attended every meeting that spring.

The council member charges that a clause sending unspent funds to the house committees was inserted by Fine.

Another of Fine's changes, council members say, was designed to give himself more power. In the current council hierarchy, the secretary precedes the treasurer in the line of succession after the vice president; before the new constitution, it was the other way around.

Official minutes from the spring of 1993 are unavailable to resolve the issue (please see story, page 5).

Still, Fine himself may have confessed his guilt. At least four sources who are or were affiliated with the council charge that Fine joked about or admitted to making unilateral changes.

The Issues

The list of charges against Fine is long. But more importantly, Fine's supporters say, it is also old--the most recent of the allegations was leveled 15 months ago.

Fine's supporters also defend him by pointing to his record.

This fall, Fine proposed seven successful resolutions (see story, page 1).

In his presidential campaign, Fine is articulating a vision which includes a promise of 15 accomplishments in his first 15 days in office.

"Integrity is doing what you tell people you will do," Fine says. "This is so that on February 20, The Crimson or any council member can open my position paper and say, 'Randy meant everything"'.

Fine says his promises are tangible. Among the "15 in 15" are a new copy machine for use by student groups, a response to the report on the structure of the College, and creation of a task force to study other methods for delivering non-Harvard newspapers.

Fine's other major plank is the elimination of "dead weight" on the council. Fine says he wants a more inclusive council, adding that he wants to assign a project or issue to every single council member.

In addition, Fine carries a strong endorsement from Hanselman, the popular sitting president. Hanselman's endorsement is the first in years an outgoing chief.