Council Begins Reconciliation Process After Divisive Burton Issue

A week after a divisive impeachment trial that left Undergraduate Council Vice President John A. Burton '01 in office, council members on both sides began the process of reconciliation at last night's meeting, with Burton apologizing and opponents withdrawing a censure resolution against President Fentrice D. Driskell '01.

In the first vice-presidential report Burton delivered to the council--two weeks ago he was absent from the meeting, and last week he declined to make his weekly statement--he apologized to the council for his role in the impeachment crisis.

Burton said there were "a lot of things I could have done" differently that could have avoided or mitigated the ordeal of impeachment. But according to Burton, his apology will not be enough to eliminate lingering bad feelings within the council.

"I'm not going to pretend that antagonism is going to disappear overnight," he said.

Driskell also addressed the issue of reconciliation in her weekly remarks.

In response to a censure petition circulated by council member Jeffrey A. Letalien '00, Driskell held a meeting Friday to discuss the concerns Letalien and others have expressed about comments Driskell made to The Boston Globe.

In his petition, Letalien had charged that Driskell improperly cast the impeachment debate in tones of racial discrimination.

Driskell told the council that after the meeting with Letalien and other council members, the parties involved concluded that censure was "not a great idea."

Several other council members also said they would not consider drafting a censure measure.

She said that if her statements in the Globe seemed to accuse the supporters of Burton's impeachment of racism, that was "surely not the intent," and was rather a result of the Globe taking her words out of context.

Letalien said that while he is not satisfied with Driskell's partial apology, he will not reintroduce his motion to censure Driskell--though he would support censure legislation were someone else to propose it.

Letalien said he would have liked Driskell to strongly denounce the political use of race in her remarks.

"Those sort of tactics are unacceptable," Letalien said. "She should have condemned them."

On the whole, though, Letalien agreed with Driskell that council opponents moved closer together at last night and Friday's meetings, albeit only slightly closer.

"It's a baby step on a mile-long walk," said Letalien.

The key to walking that walk, many said, is for the council to get back to its normal work on behalf of the student body. And in many ways the council was able to return to business as usual last night.

The meeting took only a little over an hour. In comparison, last week's session lasted over four hours.

Council parliamentarian Alexander A. Boni-Saenz '01 made very few procedural rulings, none of them involving constitutional issues such as those raised by Burton's impeachment.

And in contrast to the close votes on impeachment last week, bills on student group funding and labor politics passed by large majorities, revealing that council members, at least on some issues, "have more in common than [they] have differences," Driskell said.

During the meeting Driskell asked council members to take a moment of silence to consider their council involvement, suggesting that what members have in common is a commitment to students.

Student Activities Committee (SAC) chair Michael D. Shumsky '00 listed the council's recent accomplishments and future projects in the SAC report, reminding the council of its normal work.

And Shumsky made his own call for reconciliation, announcing an upcoming event at which he said the council can continue the process of internal healing.

"House party in Quincy 616!" he told the council, to many cheers.