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Harvard Undergraduate Council

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Not to be confused with Harvard Graduate Council.
Harvard Undergraduate Council
InstitutionHarvard University
LocationCambridge, Massachusetts
Established1982
PresidentMichael Cheng '22
Vice presidentEmmett de Kanter '24
General secretaryJane Oh '24
TreasurerKimani Panthier '24
Websiteharvarduc.org

The Harvard Undergraduate Council, Inc., colloquially known as "the UC," was the representative student government of Harvard College. The Council was established in 1982 by a vote of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and student referendum, and disestablished in 2022 by a student referendum.[1] The Council was responsible for the administration of student services, campus-wide events, and student advocacy at Harvard. There were 54 undergraduate students at any given time serving on the Council: a president, vice president, 3 from each of the 12 residential houses and 5 freshman districts, and one from the Dudley Community. Students from the Dudley Cooperative also had a representative on the Council.[2] The UC also collaborated with the Harvard Graduate Council, the representative student government for the twelve graduate and professional schools of Harvard University.

History

In the year 1980, the Dean of Harvard College John B. Fox initiated a committee that was to be called the Committee to Review College Governance, chaired by John Dowling, who was a professor of biology at the College. This committee was tasked with the duty of determining the strengths and the weaknesses of the present system of governance at the College and considering any needed reforms that might improve the quality of college life at Harvard.[3]

This committee's deliberations eventually led to the passage of legislation from the faculty, a bill which was created the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council in 1982. The constitution of the Council was ratified by a student body referendum in the same year. The first Council had roughly 80 members, and these members would elect a chair and a vice-chair to oversee the Council. The Undergraduate Council funded undergraduate organizations with the proceeds of an opt-out fee collected from the tuition bill of each registered student, planned social events and services, and sent representatives to student-faculty committees. The Council today still carries out these duties and largely gets its revenue from the same original source of student tuition.

The UC Shield Logo
Shield of the UC

In 1995, the Undergraduate Council passed a number of internal reforms, the most notable of which was the creation of the roles President and Vice President, more closely modeling an actual government. In the year of 2002, in a symbolic gesture to honor the advancement of gender relations on campus since the integration of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, the Council voted to strike "Radcliffe" from its name to simply become the "Harvard Undergraduate Council".[4]

In 2019, the Undergraduate Council passed a package of reforms that modified the structure of standing committees. The Council retains the roles of President and Vice President; in addition, there are Chairs and Vice Chairs of the expanded sub-committees, through which most of the work on the Council was done. The Council's standing committees include: the Academic Life Committee; the Finance Committee; the First-Year Class Committee; the Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee; the Social and Residential Life Committee; the Rules Committee; and, from Fall 2020, the Communications Committee.[5]

In Spring 2020, the Undergraduate Council underwent a drastic rebranding to reimagine its role at Harvard College. The refreshed brand utilized elements from the Harvard College shield to represent its integration into the student body and used the RGB color (255,16,36) as reference to the year of Harvard College’s founding: 1636. This new visual and corporate identity was integral to the Council’s communications plan to interact and engage more with the student body.[6]

On March 31, 2022, the student body voted to disband the Undergraduate Council by a margin of 76 percent to 24 percent.[7] The replacement organization, the Harvard Undergraduate Association, was proposed to address many of the alleged problems of the prior organization, such as a perceived widespread lack of confidence in the Undergraduate Council, allegations of Undergraduate Council financial mismanagement, and the Undergraduate Council's existing representation plan.[8] This new body is to have fewer representatives and select teams to fulfill the same role as the former UC.[9]

Operations

Founded with the purpose of representing undergraduates at Harvard to the administration, faculty, and wider community, the Undergraduate Council was chiefly responsible for advocacy on behalf of students and funding student activities on campus. The Council operated with a budget that was, ostensibly, primarily dispensed to student organizations; in years of proper financial dispensation, it would also fund social events and student initiatives. The vast majority of the UC's funding comes from the composite of opt-out fees collected from the tuition bill of each student. As the sole representative student government, the UC provides student services like most student unions and also performs advocacy on behalf of the student body.

Since administrators at the College typically saw the Undergraduate Council as the representative of the student body, these administrators often consulted with the Council for student issues, and former UC leaders advocated for increased student input on higher-level administrative decisions.[10] Student-faculty committees had been founded on a number of campus issues with the joint cooperation of the administration and the Undergraduate Council. The Undergraduate Council would field applications from the student body for places in these committees.

The UC also formerly interfaced with its graduate counterpart, the Harvard Graduate Council.

References

  1. ^ "Harvard Students Vote Overwhelmingly to Dissolve Undergraduate Council in Favor of New Student Government | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  2. ^ http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter6/undergradcouncil.html [dead link‍]
  3. ^ "We've moved".
  4. ^ "Council Removes 'Radcliffe' from Title | News | the Harvard Crimson".
  5. ^ "UC Changes Committee Structure in Unanimous Vote | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
  6. ^ "In First Meeting In Over A Month, Undergraduate Council Votes To Conduct Student Experience Survey | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  7. ^ "Harvard Students Vote Overwhelmingly to Dissolve Undergraduate Council in Favor of New Student Government | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  8. ^ "Vote Yes For Change: A New Action-Oriented Student Association | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  9. ^ "Harvard Undergraduates Will Vote on a New Student Government Constitution This Week. Here's What You Need to Know. | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  10. ^ "Finding a Voice | Opinion | the Harvard Crimson".
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