The primary proposal discussed at the meeting of the Student Council this week was an initiative put forward by President Anuj Mittal to let the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP) assume the social responsibilities that are currently handled by the Student Council. The proposal outlined a plan to let the HOP take over all of the social programming duties of the Council. After debating the proposal, no conclusion was reached and the discussion was scheduled to be extended in later meetings of the Council.
Mittal described the plan, under which the HOP would be given a structure such that it would be run by a chair and a panel of five senators that would head committees to complete their given tasks. Every senator would be on equal footing and each would be elected, so that a hierarchy will not develop. Said Mittal, "we want to center things in the committees." This move would allow each senator to decide how to operate each three-member committee's decision-making process and prevents control of social programming from being taken from the HOP. In terms of funding, the social funds for each class would be in the HOP's direct control, a sum that Mittal estimated could reach almost $30,000.
Mittal reasoned that greater overall efficiency can be obtained by delegating very specific jobs to particular groups.
"Before you know it, the class officers sit down with the social chairs and they're saying 'What are you doing,' and we've got what we have now." By having an autonomous body governing social programming, more people would have input into the process, while the HOP would be on an equal footing with the Student Council and the SAC.
"Anything that sacrifices their [class officers] time prevents them from doing their work," said Class of 2002 President Stephen Goutman, the second major proponent of the initiative. He supported streamlining the policy side of the Student Council's work by eliminating the social aspect. Social programming was depicted as a distraction from policy work.
"It's boring to work on the constitution," said Mittal. "The reason people do [social] programming is that it's easy."
A number of Council members questioned the plan, notably Secretary Noel DeSantos and Class of 2003 Vice President Sarah Cummings. Cummings pointed out that a large proportion of students consider Student Government to be a body that improves campus life through events and that by removing social responsibilities, the Student Council would be undermining its own authority.
"The main thing I'm concerned about is that people without any titles will fall through the cracks," said Cummings.
Cummings also took issue with the nature of the initiative's proposed structure for the HOP, saying that having a group of senators all on equal footing might not be wise. Mittal replied "people feel that when they're elected they have more responsibility."
After three months of debate and no conclusion on a decision over the issue, Mittal's proposal will be discussed again on Dec. 5 in an attempt to gain the two-thirds majority that he needs to have to put it into effect. Up until now, however, not enough support exists in the Council for the initiative to pass.
