At Final Meeting, HUA Co-President Shikoh Hirabayashi Stays Silent About Cooke’s Recall

During the last meeting of his term on Monday, outgoing Harvard Undergraduate Association Co-President Shikoh M. Hirabayashi ’24 thanked everyone who had worked closely with him over the past year to lead the College’s student government.

Everyone except for one glaring omission — Hirabayashi’s co-president, John S. Cooke ’25, who was ousted in a recall election just days earlier.

Hirabayashi attempted to lead an otherwise normal meeting, in which he did briefly address the other controversy engulfing the HUA: the sudden delay of a student-wide referendum on whether the University should divest from “Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”

He started by reading aloud a statement the HUA published on Saturday regarding the referendum delays. The HUA wrote in the statement that two HUA officers voted to form a problem solving team over a constitutional dispute regarding referendums.

“This occurred after certain officers were made aware of numerous petitions with 80+ questions for referendums submitted to the Election Commission that they believe may violate our Constitution,” the statement read.

But Hirabayashi also seemed to distance himself and the HUA from the motion to form a problem solving team and indicated that the organization was simply bound to its constitution.

“I just want to add one more thing, which is that two officers — that is not the majority of the officers and may not be representative of the student body opinion,” he said. “But it is part of the Constitution that we abide by.”

“I’m sure the next officers will continue to discuss this and continue to tackle this issue,” Hirabayashi added.

At a rally Friday afternoon, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee protested the HUA’s decision to delay the PSC’s referendum on whether Harvard should divest from institutions supporting “Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”

During Friday’s rally, Harvard Feminist Coalition organizer Jessica Wang ’26 blasted the HUA and Dean of Students Office for the “double standard” in how they handled the effort to recall Cooke compared to the PSC’s referendum.

“We call bullshit on the HUA and the DSO’s clear double standard of denying students in support of Palestinian liberation their constitutional right to bring forward a referendum,” Wang said.

During the session, the HUA passed allocations of funds for a BCL Black Graduation event, a Junior Assassins game for the class of 2025, and for a Senior Week Event planned for the class of 2024.

Despite the awkward circumstances surrounding the meeting, Hirabayashi attempted to positively reflect on his time as co-president.

“Serving on student government has truly been one of the most enriching experiences I have had at Harvard, and I’m grateful to each and every one of you for letting me serve in this position,” he said.

“It’s been over a year — a lot has happened,” he added. “But I really appreciate you all for sticking around.”

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.

—Staff writer William Y. Tan can be reached at william.tan@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @william_y_tan.