Ebrahim-Cao Seek To Build A More Social Campus

Laughing together across a table at the Greenhouse Café, Senan Ebrahim ’12 and Bonnie Cao ’12, who are running for Undergraduate Council President and Vice President respectively, come across as lifelong friends. Few would guess that they have only known each other since their sophomore year. The duo, elaborating on their personal experiences in the Undergraduate Council, are just as at ease discussing UC politics as their run-in with a four-year-old in a “Where the Wild Things Are” costume.

The duo have already garnered the majority of student group endorsements, including the Harvard College Democrats, the Harvard Republican Club, the Black Students Association, and the Queer Students and Allies.

Ebrahim and Cao have worked together on the UC’s Student Life Committee for the past year. They say their time on the committee has imbued them with a greater understanding of social needs on campus.

They say they hope to facilitate collaboration across the University to supplement social programming on campus—a platform echoed in their slogan: “Your vision. Your voice. Your solutions.”

“We are basically running on a vision of partnering with students, student groups, and faculty to improve the Harvard social experience,” their campaign site reads.

COMPLEMENTARY CANDIDATES

Ebrahim, a neurobiology concentrator in Quincy House, and Cao, a government concentrator in Pforzheimer, attribute the strength of their candidacy to their complementary experiences at Harvard.

A member of the UC since his freshman year, Ebrahim possesses the savvy of a veteran insider and says he has the experience to implement his proposals.

“I’ve worked so much with the administration,” Ebrahim says. “I’ve built the relationships that matter to actually get these things done.”

Cao, a UC representative since her sophomore year, actively participates in a slew of student activities on campus, including the Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association, the sorority Delta Gamma, and the Institute of Politics.

She has also moderated the anonymous confessional website HarvardFML, an experience that she reflects upon fondly as “the worst form of procrastination.”

The pair say that though they come from different backgrounds on campus, their goals are the same.

They hope to revitalize the relationship between students, administrators, and faculty members.

“The UC isn’t great at planning a lot of stuff on its own,” Ebrahim says of the Council’s attempts at organizing social events, “but we want to partner with student groups.”

Providing money and support to student groups, they say, will spark the creation of new and exciting events such as a massive end-of-the-year party and a cultural week that brings together the talents of various ethnic clubs on campus.

A PLATFORM WITH PERSONALITY

Ebrahim and Cao have plans to reinvigorate social life at Harvard, which they say will engender an equally engaging environment for freshmen and upperclassmen alike.

One of their principle goals is to recreate Freshmen Week (also known as “Camp Harvard”) for all students at the beginning of the school year—a period that they would call “Welcome Week.”

According to Cao and Ebrahim, the extra time would help upperclassmen meet their new housemates and give students a chance to hang out with their friends before the chaos of shopping week. As it stands, they say, students are just “thrown back into classes.”

Cao and Ebrahim say they also intend to continue the UC’s encouragement of technological innovation on campus—a project the Council has engaged in through “Hack Harvard,” a program that allows five undergraduates to further develop their CS50 projects over January Term.

The ticket presented several ideas for new smartphone applications includeing “Get Out Harvard,” which matches students of similar interests and suggests events for them to attend in Boston, and a conglomerate of applications entitled “The Boys,” which includes a modified Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Services application, a party finder application, and an improved shuttle application.

Ebrahim and Cao say they hope these online tools will improve social life on campus and foster friendships between students with similar passions.

And while their platform may seem daunting, Ebrahim and Cao say they will be able to accomplish everything they have proposed.

“We would never promise anything in our platform if it weren’t something we were actually intending to deliver on,” Ebrahim says.

The pair is not waiting to be elected before putting their policies into action. The proposed Forum for Change, an idea that Ebrahim had at the beginning of the summer, is meant to be a meeting ground for faculty, House Masters, and students, allowing undergraduates to “make their case directly to the University’s decision-makers.” The duo have already spoken to Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson and Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds, and Ebrahim says that the administration’s response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

The pair say that their complementary personalities will help them continue working on their proposed initiatives if they are elected.

“We work really well together. That’s the thing—when you’re P and VP you have to spend so much time together,” says Ebrahim. “Every president I talked to told me to pick someone you like spending time with, because otherwise you’re going to be miserable 25 hours a week.”

When asked what Cao thinks of her partner-in-politics, she calls him “the biggest cheese ball ever.”

“He’s one of those people that will make a joke and he’ll be the only laughing,” she says.

Ebrahim says that his favorite thing about Cao is “her smile.” He jokingly claims that it is impossible for her to keep a straight face.