Randall A. Fine '96 chair of the council'sstudent affairs committee and one of the signersof the petition, said the ruling set a dangerousprecedent for future petitions.
"I don't agree that if there are ever less thanten signature a petition should be thrown out,"Fine said. "That gives three days for the accusedto badger, bribe or otherwise coerce people intotaking their names off."
"I think once you turn it in, it goes up onSunday," he added. "That way, people can't sign asa tactical move and pull their names off rightbefore the meeting to keep it from coming up."
N. Van Taylor '96-'95, another signer of thepetition, says he will try to bring the petitionup again next week.
"I'm disappointed with the way the vote wenttonight, but I'm sure we'll be able to continuethe process in the next meeting," Taylor said."I'm certain that Josh misused his position forhis personal campaign."
Kaufman said he will deal with another petitionattempt in the same way.
"I saw the vote tonight as 30 to 15 in favor ofpeople who thought this should never have beenbrought up," Kaufman said. "They may bring it up,but we'll deal with it again next week. We'll hopethere'll be another way to throw it out again justas fast."
Former council president David M. Hanselman'94-'95 introduced the petition last night, but hesaid he would not bring it up again.
"I personally think the council decided theydon't want to have any further discussion,particularly since they didn't allow Josh's normalpresidential remarks about it," Hanselman said. "Ithink the best thing now is for the council to geton with things, and if that requires taking myname off the petition, I'll do it."
Liston said he was surprised the council wouldnot let him discuss the issue after the petitionwas thrown out.
"If the council didn't want to hear about it,it's their right," Liston said. "I wanted to talkabout it because I assumed people wanted to hearabout it."
After the debate, the council got down tobusiness and passed five resolutions.
The council voted to ask the committee onUndergraduate Education to extend the dropdeadline for classes for two weeks and to extendthe withdraw option to the last business daybefore Reading Period begins.
The council also authorized a poll concerningrandomization of the housing lottery in hopes ofconvincing the administration not to eliminatechoice in the lottery.
Another poll was authorized which deals withissues including the viability of the council,cable TV and newspaper delivery.
Other resolutions passed included the approvalof a free comedy concert to be held on April 20 inEmerson Hall.
Finally, the council voted to show an outdoormovie beside Emerson Hall next weekend. Thecouncil decided in an overwhelming outpouring ofsupport to show "Star Wars.