Members of the council were divided on the question of dissolution, but were in agreement that the abolition could make room for more effective forms of student government. According to council member Doug Neff '70 (lower far left), the students on the council were surprisingly apathetic about the referendum. He told The Student that "those opposed to the referendum did not feel strongly about it or felt that students would reject it."
Some faculty members were more concerned with the lack of an agent for student voice in the College. Professor of History Peter Czap, then-president of the college council, felt that the dissolution was "a great step backwards," because students already did not have an adequate role in governance. Czap expressed that abolishing their only means of influence on school administration was not the solution to the problem.
Students who voted for the referendum aimed to eventually establish a larger student council elected by the student body . The new student council would ideally create a closer relationship with the faculty, which had been one of the most pressing problems of the previous government, according to David McNeil '73. The students hoped to create a more powerful, influential and operative form of student government that would play a significant role in the direction of the college. After months of heated deliberation, a students formed a new student government, the student union, in Nov. 1970.