UC Votes Down Act To Publicize Divest Harvard Events

UPDATED: April 13, 2015, at 1:24 a.m.

The Undergraduate Council at its general meeting on Sunday voted down a piece of legislation that would have allowed activist group Divest Harvard to publicize its “Heat Week” events scheduled for this week through the UC’s email list.

The act, which was proposed by Zachary W. Popp ’15, would have allowed Divest Harvard to send a “maximum of two emails” on Sunday, April 12 and Wednesday, April 15 over the Council’s “UC Pub” mail merge. The mail merge is currently received by all undergraduates.

According to it supporters, the act was not meant to be an endorsement of Divest Harvard or informative of the Council’s stance on the group’s mission or protest methods. Divest Harvard, which advocates for divesting Harvard's endowment from fossil fuels, blockaded administrative building Massachusetts Hall on Sunday evening and plans to continue the protest until Friday.

Members and supporters of Divest Harvard began a blockade of Massachusetts Hall on Sunday night. By Alana M Steinberg

In October 2014, the UC passed legislation that collaborated with Divest Harvard, creating a “Divestment Task Force” amongst the UC, and advocated for a “set of action items in collaboration with the leaders of the Divest Harvard.” The legislation, sponsored by now-UC Vice President Dhruv P. Goyal ’16 and Chloe S. Maxmin ’15 of Divest Harvard, referenced the results of a fall 2012 UC referendum when 72 percent of undergraduates who voted on the referendum indicated that they would support “Harvard divesting its endowment from the fossil fuel industry.”

The emails, according to Winthrop House representative Daniel R. Levine ’17, would be primarily “informative” and would not contain opinionated information. Levine is a Crimson news writer.

“[The UC’s mail merge] is simply a venue to reach a larger part of the student body,” said Popp, a UC representative from Dudley House. “[The members of Divest Harvard] also want to find supporters that have interest in Divest Harvard, but don’t know much about it.”

Representatives responded by saying that Divest’s presence on the mail merge would be “implicit” support of the student group. Others opposed the act because they felt that this particular use of the mail merge would display unfair publicity preference to Divest Harvard, as opposed to other student groups with equally important events.

“I think it sets a dangerous precedent for us to open our pubbing list to any student group in theory,” Council parliamentarian Jacob R. Steinberg-Otter ’16 said.

“I believe in climate change. I support, in some ways, divestment, but I do not support the group Divest Harvard,” Student Initiatives Committee Chair Daniel V. Banks ’17 added. “I think they’re militant, and I don’t think we should be putting our name on a thing that sued the University.”

The act was voted down with 27 votes cast in opposition.

UHS Director Dr. Paul J. Barreira speaks to the Undergraduate Council on the Bureau of Study Counsel's move under the College's purview this July. By Megan M. Ross

Also at the meeting, the Council passed an act to allocate $1,500 from the College’s “Bridging and Belonging” grant towards multiple events during reading period that aim to alleviate stress and increase overall student mental health. The “mental health event series” is targeted to reading period where “discourse surrounding campus mental health is perhaps most needed,” according to the legislation. The event series will include a movie screening, a community-wide study break, a student panel, and four community dinners.

The act was passed with unanimous consent, with an amendment that allowed the Council’s Student Initiatives Committee to purchase T-shirts, mugs, movie tickets, and gift cards to give away at the events. According to numerous representatives, the Bridging and Belonging Grant as well as the UC’s Finance Committee cannot fund gift items such as these.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalin.cunningham@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: April 13, 2015

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Zachary W. Popp ’15 is a former Undergraduate Council representative. In fact, he is still a member of the Council.