UC Profiles: Ebrahim-Cao

Senan Ebrahim ’12 likens his partnership with his vice-presidential pick, Bonnie Cao ’12, to a “UC wedding.” This union seeks to produce a Forum for Change at Harvard, a new social space, and a more flexible Winter Break as its offspring. However, in a year when all major tickets recognize social space and student life as the most important issues, friends say that Ebrahim and Cao’s likable personalities and experience on the Undergraduate Council will be the extra push to set them apart from the rest.

THE DUO

“I’d describe us as Frog and Toad,” Ebrahim says, referring to the main characters in Arnold S. Lobel’s children books. “We just complement each other really well.”

Ebrahim and Cao share a rare chemistry that perhaps springs from the myriad similarities between them, including the lack of a middle name, their Californian and immigrant backgrounds, and a love for the Russian language and Berryline.

Not coincidentally, both are UC veterans, having enjoyed meteoric rises to the Executive Board while amassing a slew of popular initiatives under their belts. Ebrahim was the mastermind behind UCRooms.org, which allows students to search for and reserve common spaces on campus. Cao was responsible for the expansion of Student Initiated Programming and UC TKTS, a popular lottery program for students that provides free tickets to events in the greater Boston area.

Beyond a commitment to improving social life at Harvard, Ebrahim and Cao say they hope to forge a more tight-knit community within the UC itself. “It’ll be really cool if the UC becomes less of a bureaucratic organization and more of a student group,” Cao says.

SENAN

Born and raised in San Jose, Calif., Ebrahim radiates a quality that is quintessentially Californian. He was inspired to join the UC before even registering for his first classes. Working for Dorm Crew the summer before freshman year, he met Matthew L. Sundquist ‘09, the former UC President. The notion of joining an organization that promised to make Harvard a better place piqued his interest. “Even in an institution as awesome as this, making a real change happen for students still sounded really cool,” Ebrahim says.

Because of that promise, Ebrahim has served on the UC for three years, sticking with it through election controversies and the occasional frustrations regarding inefficiency and bureaucratic red tape. He quickly ascended through the ranks, becoming Chair of the Student Life Committee in the fall of his sophomore year.

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Senan,” says Kwang Y. “Joseph” Kim ’12, who was Ebrahim’s superior as Chair of the Education Committee and now serves as the Ebrahim-Cao campaign manager. “On the UC, out of the 12 freshman reps, eight are with us and one is with the other side,” Kim explains. “Senan is able to draw in new people and bring them together, and that’s what makes him a real leader.”

Aside from the UC, Ebrahim is involved with Engineers Without Borders and the Undergraduate Research Association; he also conducts neurobiology research at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was, however, declined membership from the Association of Black Harvard Women and the Delta Gamma sorority, which he still regrets until this day. “Apparently I’m not as special as George Banta,” Ebrahim says, referring to the only man ever initiated into the women’s fraternity.

Ebrahim is a science geek at heart, according to his running mate. “He’s a mega-nerd,” Cao says. “He’ll wear t-shirts that say ‘Got Research?’ and stuff like that.”

Beyond Harvard, Ebrahim has his eyes on medical school, shunning the “dirty” world of politics. “This is the last thing I’m going to run for,” he says. “I just want to do something rewarding, and to be able to go to sleep feeling like I’ve done something good that day.”

According to his former roommate and “BFF” Samuel A. Brotherton ’12, Ebrahim’s lack of political ambitions will prove favorable for the candidate in this election. “He doesn’t see it as the beginning of a political career. He’s in it simply because he wants to do his part to make Harvard a better place.”

BONNIE

The first thing most people notice about Bonnie Cao is her smile. “She always brings out the positive energy, and she’s always smiling,” Ebrahim says of his running mate. Like Ebrahim, Cao hails from California and considers herself a die-hard L.A. Lakers fan, even if that means dodging rowdy Bostonians and hiding her jersey at every Lakers-Celtics basketball game.

Encouraged by Andrea R. Flores ’10, another former UC President, Cao joined the UC during the fall of her sophomore year as the Pforzheimer House representative. She joined the Student Life Committee under Ebrahim’s leadership, and found in him the big brother figure that she says she’s always wanted. “Senan is such a teddy bear,” she says. “When I was going through some tough family stuff, he was the person that I talked to.”

Cao, who was approached by several people over the summer as a potential UC vice presidential candidate, picked Ebrahim because of a simple logic. “It was the question of who I would vote for, and it’s pretty clearly Senan,” she explains. When she’s not perusing Ticketmaster for events that would be attractive to Harvard students for UC TKTS or fulfilling her role as UC Secretary, Cao serves as a board member of the Chinese Student Association and a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.

After college, Cao hopes to spend some time in a consulting firm, and eventually use that experience to work for a non-profit organization or an NGO. She had her eyes on politics, but quickly grew disillusioned with its inefficiency. “The more I learn about American politics, the more frustrated I become because it doesn’t necessarily get what needs to be done, done,” she says.

And like Ebrahim, Cao’s roommate sings her praises. “The best thing about Bonnie is that she cares,” said Leslie A. Rea ’12, Cao’s current roommate. “When I’m sick or upset about something, she’ll come talk to me. When I miss a meal, she’ll bring me food. She wants people to be happy.”