UC To Conduct Campus Social Life Survey

UPDATED: April 28, 2015, at 1:17 a.m.

The Undergraduate Council plans to conduct a “student social life study" to quantitatively assess the social life of Harvard undergraduates.

The survey, which will be led by the Council’s Student Life Committee, will consist of one hundred students, selected randomly, with 25 students from each class. Representatives detailed the iniative at their meeting on Sunday.

According to Student Life Committee Chair Oliver W. Kim ’16, the survey will hopefully produce “objective and scientific” data about undergraduate social life. Kim is a Crimson editorial writer.

Prospective survey items include asking students what the term “social life” means to them, as well as gathering both positive and negative opinions that students hold on “sororities, fraternities, final clubs, or other similar social groups.”

UC representatives voted down an act that stood in sharp criticism to final clubs at its general meeting on March 8. Some felt that the position paper attached to the act was too strongly-worded, as it called final clubs a "mechanism for elite, male students to exploit power dynamics." The position paper came as a result of a controversial email invitation sent by the Spee Club, an all-male final club, earlier this semester.

As part of the survey, students will be interviewed in person over the course of 15 weeks, and the report compiled by the Council will contain interviewees’ anonymous responses, quoted verbatim.

One representative posed a question about the value of including members of the Class of 2019 in the survey, as they might give premature responses during their first semester as an undergraduate. Committee member Daniel R. Levine ’17 argued that “first impressions can be valuable,” and that freshmen are an important demographic to include in the survey. Levine is a Crimson news writer.

Also at Sunday’s meeting, Winthrop House Representative Vimal S. Konduri ’17, who is a Crimson news writer, sponsored an act standing in solidarity with those affected by the earthquake that struck Kathmandu, Nepal on Saturday. According to Konduri, the act was not meant to guarantee the Council’s support of any student group involved with earthquake relief.

Some representatives posed questions of whether or not issuing statements on natural disasters should be the “business of a student government.” Pforzheimer House representative William H. Greenlaw ’17 said that in lieu of a formal statement, UC representatives should simply “ask students what they want.” Konduri responded saying that he had extended solidarity to the South Asian Association, and that the Council could possibly help advertise one student’s GoFundMe campaign for relief efforts.

“This is really painful for a large group of people,” said Konduri.

Despite objections, the act passed with two abstentions.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalincunningham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.