Council Women Look To Up Numbers

Last night's third meeting of the Undergraduate Council was preceded by the first gathering of the council Women's Caucus, a group initiated by council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00 and first-year council member Rachel L. Brown '01.

The caucus, so far composed of Redmond, Brown and three other female council members, met for about one hour over dinner at Quincy House to discuss what the council can do to attract more female members and to better address the concerns of women on campus.

Redmond, the only female member of council's eight-person executive board, said she feels that too few women are interested in the council, which is two-thirds male this year.

Compared to previous years, a small number of women ran for council positions this year, and Redmond said she thinks the structure and reputation of the council may be off-putting to prospective female members.

Both Redmond and Brown said there are many issues facing women at Harvard right now. Most significant, they said, is the recent change of Radcliffe's status from college to research institute.

They said it is the council's responsibility to ensure that the many resources and services once offered by Radcliffe--including internship programs, mentoring and funding for student organizations--do not disappear as a result of this shift.

Brown said she hopes that the Women's Caucus will ensure that issues like the Radcliffe changeover, responsibility for women's safety, concerns about sexual assault and increasing the number of senior female faculty members will be addressed by the council despite the small number of women on the council itself.

This year, the ratio of female to male members is 23 to 66.

In addition to bringing women's issues to the UC agenda, caucus members said they hope to make the council more inviting to females and inspire more women to run for office.

"UC has a reputation for being heavily male, heavily Republican, and strict with its use of Robert's Rules of Order," Redmond said.

She said she hopes to dispel this image by having regular meetings for women on the council, offering workshops on parliamentary procedure and publicizing the council more to all minority students.

In addition to hoping for a higher proportion of women on the executive board next semester, Redmond said she feels the council needs more members of color to better represent all Harvard undergraduates.

The issue of publicity and reaching out to a greater proportion of the student body is an important one for council right now. The council had trouble filling its 89 seats this semester, and some current members feel that the decrease in women's interest is simply a reflection of the general lack of interest this year.

"I don't think there's anything off-putting about the council to women or minorities," says James R. Griffin '02, secretary of the council. "The problem is that students in general are not interested."

Redmond expressed her concerns to the group at large at last night's regular council meeting. With not much else on the agenda, some time was devoted to questions regarding the numbers of students of color, international students and students of varying sexual orientations on the council. Redmond promised to provide these statistics at the next meeting.

Statistics aside, several council members said they feel the group is very diverse in opinion. With a progressive caucus, a conservative caucus and now a women's caucus, Nehal S. Patel '02 said "everyone is represented."

Patel, vice chair of the Campus Life Committee, is the only other woman who may serve on the executive board besides Redmond. As a vice chair, however, she is not allowed a vote unless the chair of her committee is absent.

"Men don't dominate," she said, "and women aren't overshadowed." Still, Patel said she agreed that the council should make a concerted effort to address the concerns of women and minority students.