The Legislative Body (LB) voted down a resolution to urge the Board of Trustees to postpone its vote on need blind admissions at its Tuesday meeting this week.

The vote was 15-16, with two abstentions. The Board of Trustees plans to vote on whether to modify Macalester’s present need-blind admissions policy in January 2005. A group of students that opposes the proposed admissions policy switch drafted a resolution recommending that the the vote be delayed until, at earliest, spring of 2005. Humanities representative RenÈe Lepreau ’06 presented the resolution at the meeting on behalf of the other resolution drafters.

“Macalester students, staff, and faculty have not yet had time….to deeply engage the issue of need-blind admissions and to create a practical and ambitious vision for the College’s future,” the resolution states. It also points out that most students will not be on campus in January.

The resolution also states that the school is not in “dire financial straits” and therefore an immediate decision is not justified.

MCSG Vice President Cara Haberman ’06 said, “[Members needed] more time to absorb ideas and bounce them around.”

Program Board Chairperson Erin Miller ’05 agreed with Haberman. She noted that approximately only half of the LB has read the 72-page Resource Planning Committee report. After reading the report, she found it addressed many of her concerns over the issue. “[Other Members should] take the initiative to inform themselves, ” Miller said.

Dupre representative Paul Swartz ’08, though, did not see a problem with voting on the resolution at the meeting. “This is a non-partisan resolution…it is just proposing a more thoughtful course of action,” he said.

MCSG President Michael Barnes raised the issue that an extra semester to research, discuss, and debate the need-blind issue may not be helpful. “It’s a strong statement to make…I don’t think students will be interested in sustaining the issue for more than one semester...it is a burden on us, but I think it is one we can handle,” he said.

LB members noted wording imperfections in the resolution and suggested that some parts should be amended.

As the LB cannot vote on a piece of legislation identical to one that has already been voted down, Lepreau will present the resolution with slightly different wording at next week’s LB meeting.

“I’m surprised it didn’t pass. As Paul [Swartz] said, it is a win-win proposal. I don’t feel like it is controversial or that it should be,” Lepreau said.

Barnes apologized to the LB for not coming to its first meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5, when he was supposed to deliver his state of the campus address.

“It is good to see that everyone is here, including myself,” Barnes said at the meeting. He said that members are welcome to come to the MCSG office to talk with him on an individual basis about his absence last week.

Doty LB representative Talha Khan ’08 said: “Everyone was disappointed when Michael didn’t give the speech, but it didn’t bother me that much because it isn’t the most important thing at hand right now.”

Barnes had rescheduled his state of the campus address to Tuesday, Oct. 12, the day of this week’s meeting, but said he was unable to give it because of logistic concerns.

Barnes does not think he will try to reschedule the speech again. “If I keep on pushing it, it might just become a joke…if people want to know what the state of the campus is, they can ask me. It is unfortunate that the speech went off on a hitch,” he said.

Barnes’ speech was to focus on need-blind admissions. Before the debate on Oct. 12, Barnes spoke briefly about this issue. Barnes said that both sides of the debate need to be “patient, respectful, and listen to all perspectives.”