European Group Organizes

Three visiting European students, all of whom will be leaving Harvard at the end of this semester, held a meeting in Winthrop House last night to found the Harvard-European Organization (HERO).

Christoph Braendli, Sven Koopmans and Oliver Koch said student interest was a key motivation in their decision to start HERO, a group aimed at providing support for European students at Harvard and promoting interest in and awareness of Europe on campus.

"When we arrived here we saw that there was no European students' organization here," said co-founder Braendli, who is from Switzerland.

"We heard from many students that they really wanted [such a group]," said co-founder Koopmans, who is from the Netherlands.

Co-founder Koch, a German national, said he, Braendli and Koopmans will spend the rest of the semester establishing an executive board to lead the organization. Koch said that with strong leadership, HERO will continue to fluorish even after its founders leave.

"We have full faith that HERO will keep on running," Koch said.

The founding members emphasized that HERO also welcomes non-European undergraduates.

"We are open to non-European students because we want to be an organization of students interested in Europe, and not just [an organization] for European students," Braendli said.

Braendli added that HERO also intends to promote European interest in Harvard.

The meeting attracted students from a wide range of countries. Among the 20 attendees were undergraduates from India, Russia, Greece, Slovakia, Romania, Austria and Bangladesh.

Many expressed enthusiasm for the founding of HERO.

"I think it's an absolutely superb idea," said Zuzana Slaninkova '98, a foreign student from Slovakia. "It is a great vehicle of cultural exchange, not only for European students but American and other students interested in Europe as well."

Founding members said the HERO will operate on a democratic basis, with annual voting, and will be divided into four departments: "secretary, treasury, fun and intellectual."

Braendli said HERO will seek to collaborate with other international and ethnic organizations on campus on various projects, such as planning speeches and social gatherings.

HERO's constitution was signed by the required number of students at the meeting, and the founders will push for official recognition from the College in the next two weeks, Koopmans said.