Council Debate On Termbill Fee Frustrates Mahan

Frustrated was the best way to describe Undergraduate Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 after last night’s council meeting.

“All of this petty bull and damn motions are ridiculous,” Mahan said. “I can’t believe it.”

The council, which had four bills on its agenda, managed to pass only one piece of legislation—a council sponsored “Junior Night” at the Hong Kong restaurant.

The two-hour session was dominated by parliamentary posturing, constant asides, and angry shouting.

The council did not even touch the weekly grants package or a bill to give incentives to student groups that promote environmental sustainability.

The council spent the bulk of the meeting discussing the proposed referendum to increase the termbill fee, which still needs approval of the full council. If the bill passes in its current form, students would get to vote on increasing the council’s cut of the termbill from $35 to $100 as well as whether or not to make the fee compulsory.

However, at adjournment time, the council was still engrossed on a debate on an amendment to an amendment that would reduce the proposed $65 increase to a $40 hike.

At the beginning of the meeting—which started at 7:30 p.m.—the council voted to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. in order to stay within the normal meeting length of two hours. With approximately 15 minutes left, a motion to extend the adjournment time to 9:50 p.m. failed by a vote of 25 to 14. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

Mahan, who was chairing the meeting, recognized a motion to reconsider extending the meeting at 9:27 p.m., but it was bogged down for nearly five minutes opponents’ voting and revoting. Mahan eventually conceded and officially adjourned the meeting at 9:33 p.m.—after he criticized council members for the “ridiculous” nature of the meeting.

Joshua A. Barro ’05, Joseph R. Oliveri ’05 and P.K. Agarwalla ’04 were the leaders of the victorious minority of council members who opposed the meeting’s extension.

The trio said they wanted to ensure that the termbill referendum bill was subject to adequate debate.

“What’s wrong with spreading the debate over two meetings?” asked Agarwalla.

Mahan said that while he did not want to force any legislation through the council, the tactic of continually drawing out debate with parliamentary motions was becoming increasingly frustrating.

“There’s a growing tendency to use [Robert’s Rules of Order] on everything,” said Mahan. “I think we’ve moved beyond using the rules to protect the minority.”

Mahan said the “abuse” of procedural rules exhibited during last night’s meeting was not the root of the woes plaguing recent council meetings.

“The bigger problem is a lack of respect for individual council members and wasting constituents’ time,” Mahan said.

The council will meet next Monday, at 7:00 p.m., instead of the regular Sunday meeting, because of the Easter holiday. The location is still to be announced.

—Staff writer Jeffrey C. Aguero can be reached at aguero@fas.harvard.edu