Candidates Differ on Council's Activist Role

In a campaign that has seen increasing consensus about specific proposals, candidates for the Undergraduate Council presidency continue to differ widely about whether the council should get involved in political issues, on- and off-campus.

All candidates agree that party hours should be extended and that House Committees should be better funded. Mention the living wage, however, and the campaigns diverge.

On one end of the spectrum, Justin A. Barkley '02 believes the council should not be activist. At the other end, not only does Stephen N. Smith '02 think the council has a role in political issues, he has actively participated in labor protests that disrupted University offices.

In the middle stands Paul A. Gusmorino '02 and his running-mate Sujean S. Lee '02, who say that their good relations with administrators would allow them to work within the system to affect change on campus.

"The first thing I'll do next fall is to schedule a meeting with the myself, Sujean and leaders of PSLM to talk with the new Harvard president about the living wage," he promised in Monday's candidate debate.

Smith on the other hand, has consistently confronted the University about its policies regarding workers' right and sweatshop labor.

"I'm not afraid to put my head on the line for issues like these," Smith says. "It's important to make our voices heard when we can."

A founding member of the group, Smith has received the endorsement of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM)--its first endorsement of the council candidate ever.

"Having people who are not passive supporters but active advocates of our position is a valuable thing," PSLM founder Benjamin L. McKean '02 said.

Barkley and Matthew Zanotelli '02 both agree that the council should avoid political issues entirely.

"Now that we have 50 members, and there isn't a campus-wide mandate for it, it's not the will of the campus right now," Zanotelli said. "There's no way to unite opinion."

"I'm not sure the student body would agree that [the living wage] should be a priority of the council. Besides, it creates division on council to talk about this issues," Barkley says.

B.J. Averell '02 takes a middle-of-the-road stance similar to Gusmorino.

Averell argues that the council should support student groups when needed, but should remain outside of politics as much as possible.

"We have groups to that are pro-living wage and anti-sweatshops already," he says. "The U.C.'s purpose is not to serve the world at large, but to serve students here on campus."

--Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu