Institute to Sponsor Student Groups Forum

It's not often that representatives of Peninsula and the Harvard Democrats Club get together to chat.

But representatives of those two organziations--and a slew of others--will get together this weekend, at an open forum for student groups at the Kennedy School of Government this Saturday.

The Institute of Politics (IOP) is sponsoring the forum, which is designed to foster more communication among student groups, according to Kimberley D. Harris '92, who chairs the IOP's projects committee.

"One of the strengths of Harvard is its decentralization," Harris said, "but one of its drawbacks is that some groups never talk to one another."

The IOP sent invitations to all officially sanctioned student groups on campus, and Harris said more than 100 representatives are expected to attend the meeting. Representatives of the various student groups are expected to discuss common concerns--such as fundraising, advertising and membership--during the forum.

The conference will have two parts, beginning with discussions among student leaders meeting in five different groups. Each discussion group will be lead by a member from the community selected for their involvement or experience in that area.

After that, all the participants will attend a panel discussion led by Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, Radcliffe Dean Philippa Bovet and former Undergraduate Council Treasurer Chris Borgen '91. Harris said she expects the panel discussion to be an open forum in which students can share their ideas with the deans and each other.

"I can't predict what's going to come out of the conference," Harris said. "More than radical changes in undergraduate life at Harvard I just hope we'll have a useful exchange of ideas."

Bruce Goldberger '91, chair of the Student Advisory Committee at the IOP, said that a conference of this sort was especially necessary in a university as large as Harvard.

Harris said members of the Student Advisory Committee first conceived of the conference idea, and then discussed it with several of the deans. IOP student members said the deans were enthusiastic about the idea and helped work on the meeting's proposed format.