McCoy Named ‘Fun Czar’

The College’s Student Activities Office announced yesterday that Jason B. McCoy ’08 will be the campus’s fourth Fellow for Campus Life, or “fun czar,” for the upcoming academic year.

The fun czar acts as a College-wide social coordinator, both for large campus-wide events—such as Yardfest and the annual welcome-back barbecue—and smaller events in the Houses. McCoy will also serve as the primary adviser for the College Events Board (CEB) and the First Year Social Committee, according to Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II.

“He brings a lot of energy to the job,” McLoughlin said. “He’s a really personable guy that I think students will relate to well.”

According to McLoughlin, to whom McCoy will be reporting, the Lowell House senior will also work closely with student groups to plan social events in line with new regulations from the College.

McLoughlin said that student groups will have to register large events further in advance, and that the College will restrict the total number of large student group events taking place each weekend. These moves will demand more coordination with the administration.

“Jason will need to be proactive,” McLoughlin said.

McCoy will succeed Haining Gouinlock ’07 in the position as of July 1.

“I’m really excited,” McCoy said in an interview. “It just seems like a great position to continue to do what I love—helping people enjoy their lives.”

Gouinlock said that, as fun czarina, her perspective as a recent graduate allows administrators to more accurately gauge student opinion. She added that she is confident that McCoy will do well in the position, despite resource constraints he might face.

“There’s never enough money or enough space or enough time to do everything you want,” Gouinlock said—adding that she would like to squeeze in a “High School Musical” sing-along before the end of her term.

McCoy has been involved in a number of organizations on campus, including the Undergraduate Admissions Council, the Crimson Key Society, the CEB, and the Lowell House Committee, for which he served as events co-chair in 2007.

According to McLoughlin, McCoy’s experiences made him stand out in the pool of 10 applicants for the position.

“He has had a lot of great experience working with students...a lot of big positions where he’s had to interface with the public and administrators and work with his peers in order to pull something off,” McLoughlin said. “He has, in a lot of ways, just been grooming himself for the job.”

Gouinlock said that the experience of remaining on campus as fun czar after one’s friends have left can be somewhat strange.

“Its funny—they pick people who are really social and have a lot of friends, and then ship all their friends off to i-banking jobs in New York,” she said. “It’s a bit weird at first, but you adjust.”

The Campus Life Fellow’s position—which is funded equally by the President’s office and the College—was created following the appointment of Zachary A. Corker ’04 as special assistant to the dean for social programming in 2004.

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.