Odd Couple Push For Financial Aid, Group Funds

In 1998, Noah Z. Seton ’00 and Kamil E. Redmond ’00 launched a campaign for the Undergraduate Council presidency and vice presidency that matched two students of contrasting ideologies—one a right-leaning student leader cozy with administrators, the other a noted liberal activist.

This odd couple won by capitalizing on the broad base of support they received from different constituencies of students on campus.

This year, Fred O. Smith ’04 and Justin R. Chapa ’05 hope to do the same.

While Smith has spent his time away from the council fighting for the rights of transgendered students and advocating for greater diversity in the Faculty, Chapa has been a prominent board member of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC).

But the pair, who are running for the council presidency and vice presidency say their contrasting ideologies will only make their tenure—and campaign—stronger.

“Along an ideological spectrum we’re very different,” Chapa says. “But there’s a difference between national government and party affiliation and what goes on at Harvard.”

In fact, Smith, who is vice chair of the council’s Finance Committee, and Chapa say that if their campaign is successful, it could mean a radical step away from the political focus of the council’s past.

“If we do this, it would smash that forever,” Smith says.

Their campaign has already showcased this non-partisan ideal.

Members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement and HRC and a former editor of the conservative Harvard Salient magazine held signs in front of the Science Center and canvassed first-year dorms for the Smith-Chapa campaign this past week.

Smith and Chapa are hoping a wide base of student support will help them beat the candidate they call the “Goliath” of the race, Rohit Chopra ’04.

“I think it started out as David and Goliath,” Smith says. “I think that the arrow is about to hit Goliath. It’s going in as we speak.”

Opposing Politics

Last April, members of several liberal student groups—with Smith in the forefront—gathered in the Yard wearing white masks in a silent protest of lack of diversity in the curriculum.

A papier-mâché replication of Summers’ head with dollar signs for eyes was the centerpiece of the rally.

Liberal activism marked Smith’s tenure as co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters’ Alliance (BGLTSA) last year. He has also headed up Beyond Our Normal Differences (BOND), another campus group dedicated to sexual orientation issues that is now known as Building on Diversity.

Smith has also been active in promoting the queer studies movement and currently serves as vice president of the Black Students Association (BSA), which has a predominantly liberal leadership.

Chapa has spent the majority of his extracurricular time on the opposite side of the fence.

As an active member of HRC, Chapa helped cultivate the relationship between the Republican group and student groups such as RAZA.

But Smith and Chapa say their partnership is more logical than it seems on the surface.

They are counting on strong student group support from their opposing camps to garner enough votes for a win.

“Obviously having a variety of groups that we’re involved in helps,” Chapa says. “The more people you know, the more support you’ll get.”

But so far even the student groups Smith and Chapa have been actively involved with have not thrown their full support behind the ticket.

Despite endorsing Chapa for vice president, the HRC board did not choose to support Smith’s presidential candidacy.

Smith says their refusal to endorse him may be a result of his opposition to Harvard support for ROTC.

“We counted the votes and simply couldn’t endorse any candidate for president,” says Josh Mendelsohn ’04, secretary of the HRC.

Smith and Chapa also failed to win the BGLTSA’s endorsement—a failure Smith did not take lightly.

In an e-mail to the BGLTSA list, Smith questioned the board’s 6-4 vote in favor of Chopra.

“My opponent’s platform makes no mention of lgbt issues and in the entire time he’s served as chair of the UC’s ‘Student Affairs’ Committee, he has done nothing for lgbt-specific issues,” Smith wrote. “There is little reason to believe he suddenly discovered the light Tuesday night. We deserve better.”

But though Smith was disappointed by the BGLTSA’s decision to endorse Chopra, he did win the last-minute endorsement of the BSA last night.

“We endorse Fred in light of his experience and commitment to the Harvard black community, as evidenced by his role as Political Action Chair of the BSA for two years and his current role as BSA Vice President,” wrote BSA President Charles M. Moore ’04 in a statement released last night. “Furthermore, we feel that Fred’s platform most coincides with the mission of the BSA and our vision for a better Harvard.”

Funding and Financial Aid

Smith and Chapa say they hope a non-partisan mentality will come through in their platform.

Their platform calls for the elimination of the summer work requirement for students on financial aid, an increase in council funding for student groups and the addition of more blue-light security phones between the Quad and the Yard.

The candidates say their commitment to reforming the College’s financial aid policies is a result of their similar experiences growing up in underprivileged families.

Smith grew up in a four-room house in Athens, Ga.

Chapa says he was raised in a blue-collar neighborhood “on the bad side of town” in Arlington, Texas. The oldest of seven children, he is also the first member of his family to attend college.

The candidates do not want other students to face the difficulties they have had to overcome.

“I want to aid in the formation of programs for women and minority groups who are interested in academia,” Smith says.

Chapa says he and Smith also share a desire to support student groups that serves to bridge their ideological differences. Their platform states that they will provide maximum funding to student groups.

“There wasn’t any conflict when we came together to write our agenda,” Chapa says. “The reason we chose each other was to defend student groups.”

Smith and Chapa also say they want to improve students’ social life by expanding Crimson Cash to multiple restaurants in the Square, pursuing cable installation in the dorms, implementing 24-hour universal keycard access in the Houses and securing the Inn at Harvard for social space when the Faculty of Arts and Sciences acquires it in 2013.

Beating Goliath

The candidates’ supporters have maintained a consistent presence in front of the Science Center, brandishing yellow-and-black “Smith-Chapa” signs through snow and wind.

But at least two other tickets, those of presidential candidates David M. Darst ’04 and Chopra, have been campaigning right alongside Smith and Chapa.

Smith and Chapa say they have also tried to target first-years and have been going dorm to dorm, offering handshakes and campaign literature.

Ernani J. Dearaujo ’03, their campaign manager, says he thinks Smith and Chapa are “winning the freshmen” thanks to this aggressive focus.

Dearaujo says that in past years, the support of first-year council representatives has been a key factor in the race.

Of 10 first-years endorsing a ticket on the council, Smith and Chapa have three supporting them.

Of the seven others, five are endorsing Chopra and two are neutral.

But Smith says that this does not mean Chopra will win the most first-year votes.

“Our freshman supporters are a lot more excited than Rohit’s,” Smith says. “The new indicator is that when we knock on doors, folks want to put our signs up. There are certain places in the Yard where you walk in and go, ‘This entryway is going to Fred.’”

Ian W. Nichols ’06, a first-year council member, says he chose to endorse Smith because “he has the best ideas, the most reasonable ideas, and he’s just really concerned about students.”

Smith and Chapa say they must also overcome the tacit endorsement of Chopra by council President Sujean S. Lee ’03 and Vice President Anne M. Fernandez ’03.

But Smith says their endorsement by three first-year council representatives shows they still have a chance to win.

“It’s kind of common knowledge that Sujean supports Rohit,” Smith says. “As a result of that, it was courageous for that many freshmen to step forward for us.”