The amiable pairing of former Harvard-Radcliffe Republican Alliance President Noah Z. Seton '00 and self-described progressive Kamil E. Redmond '00 last December seemed too politically perfect to be true.

It was.

Recent disagreements over how the council should approach the administration--either defiantly or deferentially -have exposed long-anticipated fissures between the ideological opposites.

The conflict came to a head two weeks ago, when Seton and Redmond took offense to each other's speeches at a council meeting.

Redmond surprised Seton on Nov. 14 when she used her opening remarks to criticize the council's complacency toward the College's leadership, charging that "there are things that are larger than fro-yo."

Seton, who says he has spent a year trying to build healthy relationships within the administration, was taken aback--and quickly devised a rebuttal.

At the end of the evening, in what he described as "an emotional moment," Seton told the council he felt he could accomplish more for students on campus by working with University Hall than against it.

Since the very public tiff, Seton has tried to underplay the incident, dubbing it a misunderstanding and emphasizing a subsequent reconciliation.