"Dialogue Week" Postponed by Council

Undergraduate Council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 asked the council to scale back one of her major initiatives last night, delaying the proposed "Week of Dialogue" until an unspecified future date and cutting the week by as much as a half.

Driskell's motion--proposed as a friendly amendment to the bill that endorsed the events--was not on the council's original agenda.

The new program, which might now run in mid-December instead of the week of Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, will be renamed "Days of Dialogue" from the previous title, "Week of Dialogue." It will include "no less than two and no more than three" days of events, Driskell told the council.

She said she made the decision only recently after discussions with other members.

"The more I talked with council members the more I realized that if it was going to be good, we needed more time," Driskell told the council.

Driskell said she decided that one week might be too long for the event.

"It may be difficult to continue that kind of momentum [for an entire week]," she said.

The original plan for the week included four days of events: a big-name speaker on Monday; an "Inside the Gates" focus on Tuesday, featuring panels on Harvard-related issues like religion on campus and the Harvard dating scene; an "Outside the Gates" focus on Tuesday, with a possible panel on the presidential race; and, finally, a town-hall meeting with College administrators on Thursday.

Driskell had tried to model the week after a series of debates four years ago when Harvard students packed Sanders Theatre to hear professors debate affirmative action.

"People tend to come out when the issues are more contentious," she said.

At last night's meeting, Driskell pleaded with members to join her in planning the events and to get other student organizations involved.

"I don't want this to be just my project, I want this to be our project," she said.

Although the events' date, format and speakers remain undetermined, the motion to sponsor the events--and allocate $100 for event publicity--passed with only two dissenting votes.

Kirkland representative Adam M. Johnson '02 and council treasurer Justin A. Barkley '02 voted against the bill.

"I don't think it's worth $100," Johnson said. "There's plenty of dialogue on campus already. There's other things we should be spending our time and money on."

--Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.