The Undergraduate Council was unusually productive last night, debating 20 minor constitutional amendments and one major amendment.

The 20 minor amendments, which mostly deal with issues of grammar and clarity, are expected to pass, with the fate of an amendment which would change the way members are assigned to committees still unclear. Council members have a week to vote on the amendments.

The council debate all these bills in three hours--the same amount of time the council's meeting took last week, during which time it passed a single bill allocating $400 to administer Harvard Census 2000.

Not only did the council fight its way through constitutional debates, but members wielding magic markers also used the meeting time to decorate boxes to be set up in dining halls for the collection of feedback cards.

The council's productivity was due in part to the efforts of the Constitutional Committee, which docketed all the constitutional legislation and spent many hours working through the issues involved.

Ordinarily it would be very difficult to pass constitutional amendments, Campus Life Committee (CLC) Chair Stephen N. Smith '02 said, as three-fourths of the full council must vote for any proposed change.

"Normally, all it takes is a doubt," Smith said. "[The Constitutional Committee] makes this process much easier."

Council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 was especially optimistic that the minor amendments would pass.