Council Takes 1st Step Towards Census 2000

Undergraduate Council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 and Vice President John A. Burton '01 convinced the vast majority of the council at last night's meeting to allocate money to conduct a student census, although not without a fight.

The council passed by a vote of 34-2 a bill sponsored by Driskell and Burton that allocates $400 to carry out the top item on the duo's campaign platform: a comprehensive poll of students in order to diagnose important concerns.

But the Census 2000 bill only passed after opponents amended the bill twice, changing the project's name and other details.

However, the council voted to keep the level of funding at $400, despite the objections of Finance Committee Chair John P. Marshall '01.

The bill calls for $400 for "the purposes of publicity and copying expenses." Marshall said he felt this was too much, because student groups are never awarded that much money for such limited purposes.

"Didn't we allocate $400 to Students For Life for a mail drop?" David B. Orr '01 asked.

Marshall said the mail drop was not a fair comparison because that allocation covered costs extending beyond publicity and copying.

"We never give more than $50 for publicity," he said. "We never give more than $50 for copying."

"I don't think it's fair to hold ourselves to a different standard than we hold other student groups to," Marshall said.

Council Treasurer Sterling P. A. Darling '01 said that since Census 2000 is not just a student undertaking--administrators will reap the benefits of the information the council will uncover--Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 ought to bear some of the costs.

Darling said Lewis has partially funded past surveys.

The council may have agreed with Darling and Marshall's wish to have administrators foot the bill for Census 2000, but it was more convinced by Orr's argument that the project was too important to possibly put in danger should funding from outside the council not be available.

The questionnaire itself--the product of a work group led by Driskell and Burton--is currently 14 pages long and aims to pick students' brains on topics ranging from social life to advising to the council's proper role on campus.

The council rejected Marshall's amendment, voting to keep the allocation at $400 by a 24-7 count with one abstention.

Marshall did succeed in removing the word "VISIONS" from the name of the project (formerly "Census 2000/VISIONS") for the sake of clarity. VISIONS is a student group that deals with public health issues.

In the same vote, the council chose to allow Burton, as vice president, to conduct an e-mail vote on the actual wording of the survey. The bill originally called for council Secretary Jean E. Huang '03 to administer the voting.

Earlier in the debate, former council secretary James R. Griffin '01 and Robert M. Gee '02 successfully amended the bill to eliminate a clause encouraging council members to table in dining halls for the project by reducing their absence tallies.

The amendment passed 20-16 with one abstention, over the objection of Orr, who said he saw no problem with the "carrot and stick" tactics of the council.

"I rarely do my office hours and I never table," Orr quipped.

"This is a big important project," he said, defending the original form of the bill. "Just vote for this."