Yang and Jackson Out To Restore Faith in UC

Often clad in Wonder Woman costumes, one pair of Undergraduate Council contenders have branded themselves as a heroic alliance.

Presidential candidate Happy Yang ’16, a seasoned Council representative, and vice presidential hopeful Faith A. Jackson ’16, an outsider, say that their mission as superheroes is not leaping tall buildings in a single bound, but transforming the College’s student government.

Omnipresent in Yang and Jackson’s bid for the UC’s top leadership positions are the words “happy” and “faith.” Pharrell’s “Happy” has become their campaign theme song. Their slogan “Be Happy, Have Faith,” is a nod not only to their names, but to the ticket’s two broadest goals: If elected, Yang and Jackson hope to create a happier campus by increasing attention to student wellness, and to restore student faith in the UC.

Specifically, the two candidates call for more non-gendered and racially inclusive social spaces, increased student input in Harvard’s sexual assault policy, and a focused Undergraduate Council that appeals more to the general student body.

HAPPY & FAITH

Even though the two wear identical Wonder Woman-inspired costumes, their experiences with the UC—and their opinions of it—are distinct.

Their differences, the two said, would make their leadership of the UC more effective.

Yang and Jackson first met during the First-Year Urban Program in 2012. Though they have pursued different interests since then, they remained friends and ultimately decided to run together earlier this semester when Yang approached Jackson about the possibility of a campaign.

“We complement each other very well,” Yang said, citing her own knowledge of the inner workings of the UC, compared to her running mate’s familiarity with UC “outsiders.”

Yang, an economics concentrator in Currier House, was born in China and raised in San Francisco. She has been a member of the UC since her freshman year, serving first as a representative for Elm Yard and now for Currier House. She is also the director of the UC’s Student Faculty Committee.

Attributing her involvement in student government to her Chinese background, Yang said that “[in China], democracy doesn’t exist. After I came here, I realized how powerful it is to have a voice.”

In addition to her commitment to making her voice heard, she also makes a point to listen to others, said William Oh ’18, an Ivy Yard UC representative and the Council’s current parliamentarian, who has worked closely with Yang.

“She stops and asks ‘How are you?’ and asks about your day,” Oh said. “Listening is such a key characteristic in a leader.”

Jackson—an economics concentrator from Washington, D.C., and a resident of Winthrop House—has dedicated her time at Harvard to student activism as well as the Harvard Mock Trial Association and the Institute of Politics.

Jackson has no prior experience on the UC, which she and her campaign teammates see as a strength in the race, rather than a weakness.

Moriya Blumenfeld ’16, a core leader of the campaign and Jackson’s blockmate, said, “[Faith is] coming in with a fresh look on what are the things that could be done better, and she’s really acting on executing.”

KEEPING FAITH IN THE UC

Yang said that what sets the ticket apart from the rest of the candidates is their advocacy for change to the way the Council works for students.

The two have said that they plan to reform a body that they think currently does not serve as an appropriate intermediary between the student body and the administration. Specifically, Yang and Jackson plan to create specialized task forces for larger issues so that students have specific points of access to introduce their ideas and opinions.

“[The] UC has great access and organizing power, and that’s what I really want to uncover,” Jackson said.

Tapping into that potential, Yang said, would make the UC more useful to students.

“There are so many students out there on our campus who want to make a difference, but a lot of times they don’t see the UC as a channel for change,” she said.

Campaign manager Irfan Mahmud ’16 echoed this sentiment.

“You don’t have to work around the UC. You can work with the UC, leverage the UC’s voice with the administration, and then also have student input, student guidance, on issues that are important to the student body,” he said.

And while Yang and Jackson aim to forge a stronger connection between students and the Council, they have said that it is also important that the administration sees the UC as a legitimate institution.

If that were to be achieved, Yang and Jackson said they would leverage the UC leadership’s access to administrators to effect the changes that the student body desires. This, they said, is crucial to reestablishing the UC as a channel for student-administration relations.

BUILDING A HAPPY CAMPUS

While goals for reforming the UC dominate their campaign, Yang and Jackson have also indicated that they also plan to address more fundamental issues of student life. Namely, they have pointed to their hope of increasing student happiness by improving mental health and campus culture.

Noting that campus social life seems divided along racial and socioeconomic lines, Yang and Jackson said they want to provide inclusive social spaces for students.

“We all take the same classes, for the most part, but where we go on a Friday night can be a divisive issue,” they wrote in a statement on their campaign website. “There should a place any student can go for parties.”

Jackson said she has met with Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana several times to discuss her idea for non-gendered social spaces, which she said Khurana seemed to support.

In addition to advocating for all-inclusive social spaces, Yang and Jackson are campaigning on a plan to provide a multicultural space for minority groups.

In campaign materials on their website, the duo criticizes the College for the fact that minority spaces are below ground: the Women’s Center is in the Canaday basement, and the BGLTQ office is in the basement of Boylston Hall. They advocate for a multicultural center in a more prominent location. On their website, they say that students should work with the administration now to secure a space in the Smith Campus Center.

Yang and Jackson also point to the importance of mental health as a determining factor for student happiness. The website says that they will seek to improve campus-wide mental health by creating  nap spaces for Harvard students where they will be able to alleviate stress and sleep deprivation.

In addition, their campaign proposes a mental health “Survivor” network, which would pull together organizations such as Harvard Student Mental Health Liaisons and Room 13.