The Undergraduate Council voted four times last night to amend its constitution and bylaws in order to adjust to December's binding student referendum calling for a smaller council.

The council also passed a bill creating an ad hoc committee to look into further constitutional change.

The council first formally incorporated into its constitution the referendum vote to reduce its size to 50 members, voting overwhelmingly to abolish the current system of proportional representation that seats around 90 representatives.

The amendment will be formally accepted and will go into effect next year, unless three-fourths of the council decides to reject the change in the next week.

No council members spoke against the bill, which passed 54-4. The council had no choice but to accept some downsizing constitutional amendment; however, it was free to design its own scheme for cutting membership to 50.

Under the new arrangement, every "residential electoral district"--each House and each of the four first-year districts--will elect three representatives, regardless of size.

Some council members were concerned that under the arrangement Quincy House, which has about 500 residents, would have the same number of representatives as Kirkland, which is only home to about 350 students.

But council member David B. Orr '01 assured the council that if proportional representation were continued to be used, too many Houses would round their council membership up to four representatives to meet the 50-member cap.