Although the committee later voted to retract the money allocated for the shells, some committee members wanted to prevent such abuses from occurring in the future.

"We discussed it together as a committee and decided together to issue a referendum," Grillo said.

"It's not done because we think the rest of the house doesn't care about house issues," said Timothy J. Casey '98.

Casey, who authored the referendum, said important committee decisions should be made by residents who regularly attend meetings, not just those interested in supporting specific issues.

"We just think that people who regularly come to meetings know more about what's best for the house," Casey said.

"There are usually only one or two things people usually vote for, and we want to keep one big group of people from packing one particular meeting," Casey added.

Currently, any Eliot House resident may attend a meeting and vote on issues, regardless of previous attendance.

The House Committee's duties include setting the budget and house dues.

If the referendum passes, Eliot will not be the only house that limits votes to committee members.

Leverett House limits votes on allocation of house funds to the seven house committee officers, according to Russel G. Perkins '97, Leverett house committee chair.

Other houses have instituted more complicated rules to enfranchise all residents but reduce the power of special interests.

At Currier House, every resident is a voting member of the house committee, but significant financial decisions are made through a double vote.

"To make sure a group of people don't come to a meeting to pass their own motion, we vote on the issue two times if it's a large expenditure over $200," said Currier House Committee chair Jocelyn M. Kiley '97. "We vote once during the week it's brought up and again at a later meeting."

At Winthrop House, residents are permitted to vote after attending three meetings.

"We do it this way to encourage people to come to the meetings and get involved," said Winthrop house committee chair Nicole M. Rekant '96.

"It's everybody's money, and restricting voting isn't the answer," said Rekant.

According to Casey, the original suggestion was to limit voting to the house residents who had attended one prior meeting.

But "taking attendance is just too much of a hassle," Casey said