A New Path for Council

Last week, in the fourth popular top office elections in Undergraduate Council history, Noah Z. Seton '00 and Kamil E. Redmond '00 were elected by a decisive margin to serve as the next president and vice president of the student body. The hundreds of students who voted Seton-Redmond supported a platform melding a broader vision of student services with a return to progressivism on the council.

Where current council president Beth A. Stewart '00 brought us fly-by lunches and fro-yo to Annenberg, students look forward to seeing Seton expand the council's purview to more important student services. At the same time, students clearly sought to temper Seton's focus on student services with Redmond's progressive bent.

Seton and Redmond, who is also a Crimson editor, now face the challenge of proving that their unlikely yet promising pairing can indeed produce results. We are most enthusiastic about the team's pledge to focus on important student services. Specifically, we believe three areas should top the agenda in 1999: academic and personal advising reform, a renewed push for greater diversity on the Faculty and the start of a serious dialogue among students and administrators about the construction of a viable new student center.

Seton and Redmond should also put Administrative Board reform back on the agenda, and follow through on their commitment to downsize a bloated and therefore uncompetitive council.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing Seton and Redmond, however, is to rise above the particular issues and become recognizable and respected spokespersons for the student body. This year, as Stewart has acknowledged, the council's leaders largely retreated into the council itself and into behind-the-scenes negotiations with administrators. Such a return to the closed-door, inner-circle style of the council's past squanders the opportunity presented by popular elections: to speak to and for thousands of students, focusing our attention and energies on the major concerns of the day.

Finishing a strong second in the election, T. Christopher King '01 and Fentrice D. Driskell '01 raised intriguing and important questions about the quality of community at Harvard. If King, Driskell and their supporters are truly committed to their community-building plans and vision for a "healthier Harvard," the fact that they did not win popularly-elected office should not hinder their efforts in this direction in the upcoming year.