Facing the Council's Failures

Without the debate of political versus non-political, the Undergraduate Council has shifted its focus this term to issues of community on campus. But while sustaining a vibrant campus life has always been one of the central aims of the council, we have clearly failed in this endeavor.

Springfest is the council's annual and largest attempt to "build community" at Harvard. Despite our efforts to recruit an audience for Springfest, each year, the turnout is lower than expected. As one council member pointed out, even when the dining halls were closed for lunch, the council still could not "starve" students into taking part in the MAC Quad festivities. Other council attempts at fostering community have proven to be exercises in futility.

Loker Nite was similarly unsuccessful, and the project in which council delegates performed "Random Acts of Kindness" was a failure as well: besides the first-years, only three of the 12 houses participated, spending a combined total of $70 on purchases that included flowers, candy and a giant greeting card--hardly the building blocks of substantive community. Certainly all these efforts were made with the best of intentions, but that does not change the fact that they were unsuccessful.

Each year our council calls itself "a new council" or "an improved council" or "a reformed council," yet we still subscribe to the same faulty logic that has corrupted our efforts in the past. It is time for us to put this bad logic down. It is one thing for us to call ourselves reformed, and it is another thing for us to actually reform our approach. This year, more than any other, we must make good on all of our promises to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Many of our constituents have taken these past failures as evidence of the uselessness and worthlessness of the council--an argument validated by elections canceled by God and the subsequent low voter turnout. While I am certainly not eager to assume that the council deserves to suffer under divine wrath, we must at least admit that we have not done well in listening to our constituents' concerns on important issues. Because we don't listen to students, they don't vote in our elections.

Students have always told us what they wanted; rather than placing emphasis on misguided attempts at community, they prefer support for their student groups. The number of groups on the campus has tripled since 1980, cresting at about 240. And with the decline of House life in the wake of, it is hard to deny that student groups have become, for better or for worse, the epicenter of the Harvard undergraduate community.

But we already know this. Annual events held by groups like the Black Students Association or the Asian American Association often garner larger audiences than does Springfest. Discussions and lectures sponsored by the Minority Student Alliance or RAZA effectively add more to the Harvard community than random, though kind, gifts of cherry lollipops or roses for the House dining staff.

The council's student group support to date comes almost wholly in the form of grants. This semester slightly more than $100,000 will be awarded. For most students on the campus, this is the only valuable service the council provides. They consider their $20 term bill fee as a direct transfusion to their student group's account. While some people argue that the council's bureaucratic job in awarding grants could just as easily be done by University Hall, there are many other things that the council can and should be doing besides offering grants, to support student groups.

This last semester as treasurer, I wrote almost 60 reimbursement checks to students who were members of associations that did not have bank accounts. To be viable, student groups need bank accounts. Many student groups continually engage in countless fundraising projects that range from concerts and parties to contacting alumni for financial support. In all of these areas, the council can lend its support and in the process, gain more credibility.

Perhaps the most glaring evidence of our non-responsiveness to the plight of student groups is evidenced in the dismal state of student groups' working conditions. Only 27 percent of Harvard's student groups have office space provided by the College. Of the scores of ethnic and cultural organizations that "diverse Harvard" is so proud of, only nine have any office space at all. The greatest impact the council can make on the Harvard community would be to successfully lobby the administration for these student group resources.

In our endeavors to build community on campus, we will have to be more innovative and imaginative than we have been in the past. We can and should have Springfest, but for it to be successful it will have to be radically different than it has been. Perhaps we can explore options that we have not actively pursued, like having a joint Springfest with area schools or charging a low entrance fee and using this extra income to secure a band that students will be willing to listen to. Regardless, we will fail if we do not consult our constituents throughout the process. Their good ideas have gone unheard for too long.

The council has long been plagued by claims of its illegitimacy. With only 15 percent of our constituents voting, the time has come to honestly ask ourselves at what point will we no longer consider ourselves to be a credible student government. With a 10 percent turnout? Five percent?

The longer we continue to ignore students' demands, the fewer people we will have voting in our elections. Once we start listening to students, we will almost magically find ourselves credited with the legitimacy that has been so elusive throughout our embarrassing past.

John A. Burton '01 is a social studies concentrator in Cabot House. He is serving his second term as treasurer of the Undergraduate Council.