Willey-Snow: Don’t Stay the Course, Cast a Vote for Change

Living across from each other freshman year, the two of us quickly found that we agree on virtually nothing. One was the editor of The Harvard Salient, a conservative publication, the other a diehard Democrat with a taste for burgers, country music, and baseball. While we certainly do not agree on who the next president of the United States should be, we do agree that Roy T. Willey IV ’09 and Nicholas B. Snow ’09 are the change needed in the Undergraduate Council (UC).

Like many of you, every year, we see the same stock candidates announce their entry into the race: seasoned veterans of Harvard’s moribund student bureaucracy, who have spent three years padding their political résumés, scribbling position papers, and garnering the occasional Crimson publicity. We hear the same campaign promises: greater representation for students, a more vibrant college social life, and more legitimacy for the UC. Unfortunately, almost immediately after the election concludes, we witness in the UC the same forgotten promises. Business as usual resumes.

Take a moment to consider what the UC has actually accomplished this past year. Completely bungling the party fund, the Sundquist-Petersen administration stood idly by as the UC’s influence over student social life evaporated. The College Events Board completely displaced the UC’s former incompetence in planning college-wide events. Ryan A. Petersen ’08 embarrassed us all with his speech, which pretended to speak on behalf of the student body, at Drew Faust’s installation—a barefaced attempt to deceive students with the tough-talking that his administration neglected to provide in the off-stage negotiations with University Hall. They uselessly watched as the College’s draconian crackdown on social life threatened student group leaders with punishments meted out at show trials held in secret by the infamous Ad Board.

It’s time for a change. We have a real choice for president and vice president in Roy and Nick. The Willey-Snow ticket has the right vision, experience, and commitment to fulfill the UC’s most important duty on campus: giving students a voice in shaping their Harvard experience. They will put the “college” back in Harvard College by making the UC more accountable to the student and the administration more accountable to all of us.

Although considered outsiders in the race to lead the UC, Roy and Nick are not newcomers to the political arena. Roy worked on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign this past summer, realizing that standing on principle is more important than taking the easy route. Nick interned for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, willing to sacrifice his time and effort to positively affect the direction of the nation.

Roy and Nick have good ideas that will work.

Student groups are the backbone of the Harvard community. Collectively, the Harvard student body has an institutional affiliation with the University. But individually, the strongest and most significant connection students have with the University is through the student groups, organizations, and teams with which they spend most of their time.

Roy and Nick will fight to ensure that these student groups have the resources that they need to enhance student life. Having led and started student groups themselves, they realize the need for additional input from student group leaders. They understand the necessity of teamwork in advocacy, and will focus on listening to students and student groups in working with them to meet their needs. They will follow through on this campaign promise with unyielding commitment.

Supporting campus life and increasing accountability to students are easily measurable goals—and achievable, if we select the right leaders. Such initiatives must be supported by the leadership and integrity that Roy and Nick exemplify.

Roy has participated and served in leadership roles in a number of student groups as an active member of the Institute of Politics, as the President of the Southern Society, and as an executive board member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Nick revived polo, one of Harvard’s oldest sports, by battling the bureaucracy and garnering alumni funds. A former hockey player, Nick has interacted with a wide variety of students and understands the diversity in feelings towards Harvard social life.

Roy and Nick’s primary objective is first and foremost to enfranchise students whose voices have gone unheard. This starts now. We hope that you will join Roy, Nick and the two of us to change the direction of the UC and improve student life at Harvard.



We can no longer have a UC led by those who are too afraid to stand up to the administration, too nice to fight for students needs, and too incompetent to achieve any significant change over the course of the last year. With Roy and Nick at the helm, the UC will steer a new course for the campus. They embody a leadership that views its mission, but not itself, as important; one that has the credibility and understanding of campus social life to set the tone for the debate; and one that will speak frankly, work diligently, and act responsibly to guarantee that this campus has fun.



Christopher B. Lacaria ’09 is a history concentrator in Kirkland House. Rahul Prabhakar ’09 is a government concentrator in Lowell House.