The Undergraduate Council last night voted to recommend that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences limit section size to 15 students.

Council member Randall A. Fine '96, one of two sponsors of the resolution, said many sections currently contain more than 20 students, a size which hinders rather than fosters discussion.

"Undergraduates are unified in their belief that section sizes, on the whole, are excessively large, forcing section leaders to lecture as opposed to leading discussion groups," Fine and co-sponsor N. Van Taylor '96-'95 wrote in the resolution.

Although the resolution as written applies to all undergraduate courses, Fine said the council will concentrate on reducing section sizes in core curriculum courses.

He said that decreasing section sizes and paying teaching fellows based on the number of students they teach, rather than the number of sections they oversee, will help students without significantly affecting teaching fellows.

"The only cost to the teaching fellow is one additional hour of the teaching fellow's time," Fine said.

Speaking in opposition, council member Jason E. Schmitt '98 argued that small sections may make students less willing to contribute to discussion.

But Fine and other council members said that, in their experience, large sections often serve as "mini-lectures."

"This [reform] could change undergraduate education more than simply changing the number of sections," Fine said.

The council also approved plans to sponsor a six-group a capella jam next weekend to celebrate the holidays.

Tentatively scheduled to appear at the concert next Saturday in Tercentenary Theater are the Pitches, the Din and Tonics, the Callbacks, the Opportunes, Glee Club Lite, the Veritones and the Kuumba Singers.

Delayed Recognition

In other business, the council, responding to complaints by a member that approval of his student organization has been held up for more than two years, approved a resolution "encouraging a prompt decision on any student group that meets the minimum requirement[s]" set by the University.

"It's really an issue of freedom of speech," said the student, Michael J. Hrnicek '96, who is president of Harvard Christians in Action.

Hrnicek's group, some of whose members belong to the Boston Church of Christ, an alleged cult, has not yet been recommended for recognition by Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III because of questions about the group's autonomy.

But Fine said this resolution affects many organizations, not simply Hrnicek's religious group.