UC Plans Surprise Event for Undergraduates

In response to concerns voiced by students in the Undergraduate Council’s social life survey, the UC’s Social Programming Task Force (SPTF) has coordinated a surprise event for the Harvard undergraduate body, taking place in front of the Science Center today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event, which the UC has kept secret from the student body, was only publicized by a single “teaser” email sent out to students last week. Otherwise, the UC has requested that the exact details of the event remain concealed.

“We want to maintain some element of surprise so that students walking by the Science Center this afternoon have the privilege of stumbling upon spontaneous fun and random silliness,” said UC SPTF Chair Crystal D. Trejo ’13. “We want to create more experiences with random Harvard fun where you can build memories without being stressed out about classes.”

The SPTF, a recently established committee, was created to organize free events and has the stated goal of unifying the student body.

Today’s event—which had originally been scheduled for April Fool’s Day but was postponed due to inclement weather—will be the first one hosted by the new committee.

“You see a lot of protests and political events on campus, but not a lot of events just for fun,” Trejo said. “We all go to Harvard and we’d all like a break.”

This first event also comes amidst a growing conversation about campus social spaces. SPTF members say they have joined the discussion and hope to achieve progress by uniting the student body and eliminating exclusivity, according to UC Rules Committee Chair and SPTF member David H. A. LeBeouf ’13, who is also a Crimson news editor.

“We want students to see that the UC is listening to what they’re saying and we are coming up with ways to respond,” said LeBeouf. “We are always open to feedback and ultimately, we really want to build a give-and-take relationship with the student body.”

At the committee’s inception, its original goal was to host three free events by the end of the semester. However this goal has proven to be more difficult than the committee originally anticipated, according to Trejo.

“It has been a huge process and trying to plan an event is just as hard as trying to create new legislation,” Trejo said. “We’ve realized that coordinating with different organizations, different vendors, and different parts of campus has several obstacles.”

Still, the SPTF has successfully planned and coordinated a second program for the semester. The event—titled “Lights Out”—will be a free dance for all undergraduates, to be hosted in Annenberg on April 23.

“We will be bringing an old Harvard tradition of dances in Annenberg into the 21st century,” Trejo said.

—Staff writer Rachael E. Apfel can be reached at rachaelapfel@college.harvard.