Word: seymour
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...Even so, Seymour insists that "no other student council or student government organization approaches the scope, to say nothing of the effectiveness, of the Council." Either the real power exercised by student governments at Brandeis, Swarthmore, and hundreds of state colleges and universities is unknown to the Chairman, or he has worked out new meanings for the words "scope" and "effectiveness." It is the very narrowness of scope that currently renders the HCUA slightly absurd, and it would be a kindness "to say nothing" about HCUA effectiveness...
...Under Seymour, the Council has nearly lost whatever prestige and standing it developed during its first year of life. Substituting debate and votes for lengthy, informative and thoughtful reports, the Council has tried to become what it patently is not--a student government body. The cause of the mistaken direction is clearly indicated in this claim from the Chairman's report: "much of the criticism from other organizations, and most of its vehemence, stems not from the Council's lack of effectiveness, but from its very real effectiveness and representativeness...
...word here is "representativeness." Gradually, the Council (but particularly Seymour) has allowed itself to believe it actually represents the student body and is competent to speak for it. This assumption has been behind most recent debates. It apparently prompted Seymour to think he was qualified to submit to the Administration a "confidential" 10-page report on what students really think about parietal hours. For many members, the HCUA'S' "representativeness" constitutes the bulk of its rational for existing...
...Seymour Council improved some of the service projects, but on the whole, it did not make use of its inheritance. At times it seemed determined to destroy it. For the first few months of its existence it devoted nearly all its attention to internal house-keeping matters and to long, pompous debates on the "role of the HCUA." The only major issue it treated was the question of continued membership in the National Student Association. Late in the Spring the Council debated the constitution of the Association of African and Afro-American students, but contented itself merely with voting...
...Council meetings should be held infrequently, and only to consider major committee reports. The Seymour practice of weekly meetings has only exposed the Council to ridicule, wasted members' time, and encouraged the Council to embroil itself in trivia. The Council officers can more easily obtain small concessions and adjustments from the Administration without the publicity and wrangling that inevitably goes on in general meetings of the Council. Council meetings should be great debates, not great squabbles over procedure...