The Student Assembly voted to approve a resolution at its meeting last night calling on the College to implement a final cable television plan by next Fall term.
The resolution comes more than two weeks after the College's surprise announcement earlier this term that a free interim package of 13 channels would be available in residence hall rooms Winter term.
Matthew Benedetto '00, sponsor of the resolution and the Assembly representative to the College Committee on Cable, said the committee was "pleased [the interim package] was something." But, he said, a more comprehensive, final package was "already a year too late in my book."
Benedetto said the cost of cable will be included in students' room rental fees regardless of whether a student wants the service or not, similar to the way DarTalk now functions.
Some members objected to this billing plan, saying it is unfair to students who do not have televisions, despite Benedetto's attempts to liken cable to internet connections which everyone pays for automatically.
"Everyone has to buy a computer when they enter the school," Assembly member Mark Woodard '99 said. "There's no TV requirement. It's an invalid comparison."
Most of the objections arose from concerns that the resolution supports the notion of cable in residence halls without a definite plan from the College Cable Committee.
"The problem is this gives carte blanche support to another committee," Andrew Cernota '99 said.
Many members also raised concerns about campus cable taking College funds away from other Assembly priorities.
Members also worried that Assembly resolutions might lose their impact if the Assembly supports too many ideas. The Assembly passed a resolution last week supporting more social and programming space.
"You trade off 'umph,'" Assembly member Adam Greenwald '01 said. "There are other things we can spend our time on besides cable TV."
The final vote was 25 Assembly members in favor and three members opposed, with 12 members abstaining.
The Assembly also set aside $875 to host next month's Ivy Council conference, which will be held at Dartmouth.
The Ivy Council is a group of representatives from all the Ivy League institutions' student government bodies. Its goal is to share information on the activities of each group and school.
The resolution adopted last night calls on the Assembly to match the $125 base fee of each of the other seven institutions participating in the conference.
Many members of the Assembly voiced concern that the money would be spent without any benefit to the general student body.
"It exclusively helps certain people," Assembly member and former Vice President Nahoko Kawakyu '99 said.
"It seems like a very small group of students will benefit form this," Greenwald said.
Ivy Council President and Assembly member Scott Jacobs '99 said the Ivy Council benefits the Assembly, which in turn benefits the entire student body, though one member said she had never heard of the "Knowledge Exchange" web site which Jacobs said makes available the member bodies' information, reports and experiences.
Eighteen Assembly members voted for the funding, nine voted against it and seven members abstained.
The amount of money approved falls far short of the overall conference budget of $2,475.
Jacobs said he hopes to gain the rest of the conference budget through fund raising.
The conference will be held Nov. 6-8.
The Assembly also participated in an informal discussion with Associate Director of Athletics Roger Demment at the beginning of its meeting last night about ways to improve Kresge Fitness Center.
Most members said they wanted more equipment and more space for the exercise and weight room.