At a gathering of the 1997 Class Council yesterday afternoon, nine sophomores argued for about 20 minutes over when to hold their regular weekly meetings.
The group finally decided on 5 p.m. Mondays, which did not conflict with any of the group's classes or favorite television shows. But the council members have not always been so relaxed about their role.
Since their beginnings, council members have worked to distinguish themselves from the more-politicized Student Assembly. Now the difference is clear, according to Sariya Sharp '97.
"SA is political and yucky," said Sharp, the council's secretary who has worked with the group since the beginning of her freshman fall. "We're just kind of cheesy."
Behind Sharp's seemingly-flippant description of the council lies an important contrast between the Assembly, defined by the College as a governing body, and the council, whose main mission is to program events to bring the sophomore class closer together.
In the two years since the Class of 1997 first came to the College, the council struggled to determine its own identity.
In its early meetings, the council's approximately 60 members, then new to the College, wanted to take a stand on such issues as the freshman meal plan.
This political bent, according to council Vice President Matt Shafer '97, who has held that position since freshman fall, was a misinterpretation of the group's aim.
"We started out pretty rough," Shafer said of the council's beginnings. "We wanted to take a stand on changing the meal plan -- that was wrong."
"We ... wasted an enormous amount of time trying to be a governing organization," he said.
But through the course of a freshman winter, where participation dwindled so low that only about three or four students would show up to council meetings, the organization managed to re-focus itself.
"We transformed from a pointless, arguing organization to a real programming organization," Shafer said. "We found that focus in the spring and we just continued through with that."
Shafer pointed to the $500 Adam Brown '97 Scholarship, named after the student who died last September of cardiac arrest prompted by meningeal spinal cancer, which will be awarded to a member of the Class of 1998 for community service work.
Other accomplishments of the council include events such as last week's Luau, held Wednesday on the lawn of the Gold Coast Cluster and attended by about 300 students, according to Class of 1997 President Pamela Saunders.
Saunders also noted the raffle for a Discman, held by the council at the men's hockey team's last game during Winter term, and the evening Spring term where the council served strawberry and chocolate to go along with a performance by the all-male a cappella singing group, the Aires.
From its rigid early days to the council's current more "laid-back" atmosphere, Saunders said her leadership, too, has become more hands-on as the group became more informal.
"I think I was much more into delegating and now I find I'm much more organizing events," Saunders said.
Saunders said the dedication of the core-group of students who serve the council regularly, a number she estimates at around 20, has made for an ever-more productive council.
"We're not just a council, we're a group of friends," Saunders said.
Saunders said she was impressed by other members' dedication to programming events for their class.
This contrasts sharply with last year, when Saunders said, "We just didn't have a cohesive group of people."
Sharp also sees improvements in the way the council runs.
"We're getting much more interesting," Sharp said, giving as an example the council's plans to show the mystery movie "Dead Again" later this summer projected against the outside walls of the Blunt Alumni Center.
If that informality has led to some organizational breakdowns, like printing posters for last week's Luau that omitted the event's time and location, a mistake caught only after several posters had been hung, the group more than makes up for this with enthusiasm.
Sharp told of the time during freshman fall when a council-run Halloween Dance drew only a small turnout. Sharp and Shafer in turn went around in costume to several dorms, "banging on all the dorms, getting everybody to come to the dance."
Emily Michaels '97, who has served the 1997 Class Council since the first week of her freshman fall, sums up the council's still-changing dynamic.
"We're always a work in progress," Michaels said of the council. "I'll be very interested to see how the summer goes."