UC Requests Administrators' Reviews of BSC Decision

The Undergraduate Council voted to request administrative reviews of the recent decision to change the body overseeing the Bureau of Study Counsel from University Health Services to the College at its last general meeting of the semester on Sunday.

The UC formally requested all “internal and external” reviews from administrations regarding the decision to shift the BSC’s governance, as well as “all other information elucidating the basis” for their decision.

According to the legislation sponsored by UC Parliamentarian Jacob R. Steinberg-Otter ’16, several Council representatives felt that the basis for the University’s decision to shift the BSC’s purview was unclear, and that the Council needed to “better understand the basis” for the shift.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris announced last month that the BSC, currently a part of UHS, would report administratively to the College starting in July. Since the shift was announced, students have raised concerns about the potential loss of privacy that might come with the move.

At the meeting, representatives also voted to amend the UC’s constitution and bylaws for the third time this semester, establishing the Student Faculty Oversight Committee as one of the Council’s standing committees. The committee will be charged with increasing the collaboration between the UC and Student Faculty Committees, according to the legislation amending the constitution.

The Council currently has 16 Student Faculty Committees, with a total of 72 undergraduate representatives sitting on those committees.

The 16 committees were placed under review by the Council’s Evaluation Task Force late last month. At last week’s general meeting, Steinberg-Otter and Rules Committee Chair Brett M. Biebelberg ’16 told representatives that reviews for the committees were generally positive.

A comprehensive review of the 16 committees issued by the Student Faculty Oversight Committee, which was created late last fall semester, said that while the committees do serve a clear purpose of bridging a gap between students and administrators, there was concern raised about the “lack of student initiatives” brought forth in the committees’ meetings. The Student Faculty Oversight Committee aims to solve this by appointing a “point person” to each individual committee in order to increase their effectiveness.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalincunningham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.