"If this process was even alienating people [who have a significant interest in politics], I was concerned that it would have an effect on people with a marginal interest, the people the IOP is trying to attract," Markham said.

Markham said the petition, signed by males and females of varying backgrounds and class years, was representative of another associate concern, that the SAC is not diverse enough.

But McLain defends the committee on this charge, pointing to the fact that SAC is much more inclusive than it was even three years ago. Currently, 14 of 30 SAC members are women, and 12 are minorities. To encourage diversity among associates, he plans to speak to campus organizations about the IOP.

Associates also complained of SAC's exclusivity, secretive nature and inaccessibility in their letters in support of the proposal.

In their letters, Ford and David B. Alpert '00 criticized for SAC for holding luncheons with high-profile politicians that were not announced to associates.

Passante and Markham pointed to the secretive nature of the meetings themselves as an example of this problem. In Saturday's meeting, Markham was not allowed to be present during the period in which the proposal was debated and voted upon.

SAC members said that the decision to make its by-laws and selection process public was an effort to address complaints of unnecessary secrecy raised by associates.

"We got the response from associates that it was secretive, and we agreed that it should be more public, so we took some steps yesterday to make it more public, and I think the result is going to be more public satisfaction," said Mahoney.

Former SAC Vice Chair William P. Moynahan '99, who is also a Crimson executive, presented a second proposal, under which the committee would elect a new class of members each November instead of each February. The intent of the proposal was to elect SAC members later in their Harvard careers and prevent attrition by upperclass students.

"I thought the IOP might be helped if the issue of SAC membership was removed from the first-year associate experience," Moynahan said. "By limiting applications to sophomores and juniors, there would be more time for evaluations and the leadership track would be less front-loaded."

SAC members say the proposals pushed the committee to examine itself, but they said they did not think the proposals were the best means to improving the group.

"Because I thought that there were less dramatic ways of dealing with this problem I didn't feel comfortable with taking this step," Mahoney said.

Lang reconciled her hopes of the proposals' passage with the SAC's decision.

"I would have preferred the structural changes, but I like the spirit that I saw in the room of people who really seemed dedicated to the idea of involving everybody but just didn't think this was the best way to go about it," Lang says.