Burton, Resnick See Return to Activism

Cabot House roommates John A. Burton '01 and Scott A. Resnick '01 say they want to put the Undergraduate Council in philosophical reverse and return to a more activist stance.

The candidates describe the council as a broken vehicle that will not take the student body anywhere without major repairs.

"Everyone is talking about the destination for the council, but nobody recognizes that the council has no engine," says Burton, who is in his second year on the council and currently serves as treasurer.

For Burton and Resnick, reforming the council means taking it off the depoliticized track it has been following under President Beth A. Stewart '00.

"This year we've seen a real focus on bagged lunches, keycard access and cable," says Resnick, who is a Crimson editor and is in his first semester on the council. "In focusing our efforts on those things we've missed out on everything else."

Burton and Resnick support creating an ethnic studies concentration and a multicultural student center, as well as increasing Faculty diversity.

But they say focusing on more political issues does not mean they are not interested in student services.

"We care more about political issues, but we want a council that addresses all types of issues," Burton says. "We are not reacting against Fly-By lunches. We are reacting against the idea that this is the only thing that students can get out of their U.C. We can still have student services, but that will never be the sole emphasis of our council."

Burton and Resnick's commitment to activism helped to earn them an endorsement from Perspective, "Harvard-Radcliffe's Liberal Monthly," and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.

They have also received a partial vote of support from ALLIANCE, an umbrella organization of progressive student groups.

"Issues like that tend to increase student power," says Shai M. Sachs '01, outreach coordinator of Perspective.

The team's call for reform also extends to the structure of the council itself.

Burton and Resnick say the current council is a broken and indirect pipeline between the student body and the administration.

"The council is too big," Burton says. "About a third of our council is missing in action. An organized body of 60 is able to do a lot." There are now about 90 members on the council.

To improve communication between the student body and the administration, Burton and Resnick plan to require council representatives to hold office hours in their dorm or House.

"[Representatives] have to take a proactive role in soliciting student opinion," Burton says.

Council representatives would also be assigned to a specific area of expertise under Burton-Resnick leadership.

"We are going to connect the individual representatives to the issues," Burton says. "Every week [the representative] is doing things on that specific issue."

The hope is that individual council members will bring specific student concerns and ideas back to the administration.

"I refuse to believe that 6,400 undergraduates at Harvard are incapable of coming up with good solutions to serious problems," Burton says. "And that's a resource that we should tap continuously."

Burton points out that Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 last year said he did not really consider the council to be the voice of the student body. He also says that students lose interest in the council if they see it as unrepresentative.

"The U.C. has not demonstrated that it should be respected," Resnick says. "Legitimacy for the council will come when the administration and the student body see the U.C. as representative."

Founder and chair of the Administrative Board task force of the council, Burton says he hopes to uncover specific student concerns about the Ad Board and bring them to the administration.

The candidates take a similar stance on reforming counseling and advising.

"People know that advising is sort of bad," Resnick says, "but the U.C. has failed miserably to present that in concrete form to the administration."

In addition to Perspective's endorsement, Burton and Resnick gained the support of Amnesty International and Burton received an endorsement from the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Transgender, and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA).

"He was the only [presidential] candidate for president with specific, concrete plans of action for the gay community," says BGLTSA Co-Chair Adam A. Sofen '01, who is also a Crimson editor.

Sofen says specifically Burton has shown interest in providing a list of courses relevant to gay studies and expanding shuttle services, two issues of particular concern to the gay community.