A NEW ERA

Forget rhetoric. Forget propaganda. Jeremy R. Jenkins '98-'97 is out to become the first Philosopher King of the Undergraduate Council.

Despite having never served in Harvard or high school student government, Jenkins argues in his presidential position paper that "the administrative duties [of being Undergraduate Council president], while sometimes cumbersome, do not require great, in-depth experience."

Any Harvard student is capable of handling the administrative aspect of the council presidency, he says. The unique quality Jenkins does propose to offer the council, is "common sense."

"I'm not out to make a name for myself or to just be president of the Undergraduate Council," Jenkins says. "I see a chance for reform. And I think I have a lot in common with others who are looking for reform."

Jenkins says a perspective from outside the council could be exactly what is needed to translate campaign rhetoric into action once elections for officers are complete.

Jenkins, like the other four presidential candidates, has focused his platform on the implementation of popular elections for council officers and taking a stand on the proposed federal student aid cutbacks in Washington, D.C.

"We should remember who we were elected to represent," Jenkins says. "I don't see our role as being a partisan voice on issues outside of the Harvard campus."

"We're not going to have the influence in Congress [to change federal policy on student aid]. More importantly, it's not our job."

The council's job, Jenkins says, is to approach the issue from a campus perspective. "We should be working with the administration and the [Harvard] Corporation to get a commitment to need-blind admissions written into University law," Jenkins said.

Focusing on issues which the council can expect to affect will also help to make it a more "legitimate" body. This will bring the council closer to reaching the ideal of a truly representative body of student legislators, Jenkins argues.

"In past years, the Undergraduate Council has managed to make itself completely irrelevant," Jenkins says. "In years past, when I read things that the Undergraduate Council said, my initial reaction was usually, 'What have they been smoking?"

The main problem, he says, is that students don't care about the council. "And while they don't care, we don't have a representative government."

"Students are not mindless party goers and they're not ever-ruminating philosophers. Quite simply, they are people," he says.

And what they need in a leader, according to Jenkins, is a person just like them.

One huge obstacle in Jenkins' way, despite his statement that experience is not a necessary criterion for a good council executive, is that his lack of council experience renders him unknown to most members voting in tomorrow's election.

Manisha Bharti '98, a council member and principal organizer of last weekend's Gala Ball, said that although she has "worked with four of [the candidates], I haven't worked with Jeremy at all. And for some people, it's going to be a problem that he's only a sophomore."