Walk plan consensus may be impossible

President Sheldon Hackney's Locust Walk Committee is expected to present its report next week, but Committee leaders said yesterday a group consensus may be impossible and Hackney may receive an opinion that ignores his "limiting" charge. The committee has been shrouded in controversy since the president commissioned it in September. Major campus governing organizations, including the Faculty Senate and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, have criticized Hackney for his stance that the Walk fraternities would not be relocated. Focusing on recent reports of abuses at fraternities, some committee members have threatened all year to submit a separate "minority" opinion, recommending the relocation of Walk fraternities. Committee Co-chairperson David Pope, chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, said yesterday he hopes a separate opinion is not needed, saying "it is very very likely that in the report will be a commentary on the fact that a significant number of members are not pleased with the charge." He added that a final vote might show a majority of the committee members are unhappy with Hackney's charge. He said the committee would then submit a recommendation outside the president's suggested scope. "I don't think that would be useful," Pope added. Some committee members said yesterday they are satisfied with the committee's work, but added that time constraints may have prevented them from discussing specific issues. "If everything coming out of the committees is accepted, it will be a positive step," United Minorities Council President Nalini Samuel said. "There will be a definite change on campus in the future . . . It won't be as offensive an environment for minorities and women to walk down the Walk." Committee members said last night they have divided into several subcommittees to study separate aspects of diversifying the Walk, including how best to utilize space, set behavioral standards and increase "programming" on the Walk. The group's final recommendation to Hackney will consist of the combined reports of the individual subcommittees.

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