Student Advisory Group Meets With Summers

Undergraduates added their voices yesterday to the chorus of advice that has surrounded University President Lawrence H. Summers during his search for a new dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The Undergraduate Advisory Committee on the Selection of the New Dean of FAS met with Summers yesterday evening, urging him to select a dean who would address student concerns like advising and space issues.

The seven-member committee—formed roughly three weeks ago by the Undergraduate Council—presented Summers with a four-page report compiled from student survey responses and the results of their own meetings and discussions.

Summers and members of the committee discussed ways to improve advising, availability of Faculty and student space on campus, according to committee chair Kate B. Greer ’02.

Greer said Summers was “very receptive, polite,” and that the conversation was “dynamic.”

She said Summers was particularly interested in what the students thought about the College’s advising system, theCore Curriculum and the curriculum in general.

Greer said she felt one of the most important aspects of yesterday’s meeting was that it had occurred at all.

“Overall, I think the most positive aspect was that it was the first time that students had formal channel to an administrative decision,” Greer said. “Hopefully this will be the first step in many.”

Rohit Chopra ’04, who chairs the council’s Student Affairs Committee and attended yesterday’s meeting with council President Sujean Lee ’03 and council Vice President Anne M. Fernandez ’03, said he hoped students would be more involved in administrative decisions in the future.

“The president seemed to take the committee’s report very seriously, and I hope this is only the first step in significant student input, and hopefully next time students will be on the search committee,” Chopra said.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.