‘Vote or Die’ Aids UC Candidates

Two students who say that the Undergraduate Council lacks the diversity to represent the campus hosted a gathering in the Lowell House grille last night aimed at supporting minority candidates in the ongoing council elections.

Borrowing their name from Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, the so-called Vote or Die Family has been campaigning this week for nine candidates who are running for the council.

Former Black Men’s Forum President Brandon M. Terry ’05 co-founded the initiative, which he said is stressing the importance of the council in the curricular review and Allston planning in addition to pushing for more minority students to serve as council representatives.

“It’s not like Bull Connor is waiting at the door to protect [council president] Matt Mahan, but it’s still better to have more minorities on the inside to help you out,” Terry said.

The other co-founder is Azhar N. Richmond ’05.

According to Terry, only two of the council’s 48 representatives last year were black. Last year, 8 percent of Harvard undergraduates were black, 7 percent were Hispanic and 16 percent were Asian.

Terry said that it is more important than ever to have council representatives who reflect the diverse needs and interests of the student body.

“A lot of students think the [council] is just a monkey with a blockbuster card,” Terry said. “But with Allston and the curricular review, this is not a joke anymore.”

In addition to hosting last night’s party—which featured vodka, music and a laptop where students could vote—the Vote or Die Family has helped candidates poster and door drop, and hosted a workshop on running a successful campaign this week.

“A lot of minority candidates come from [high] schools where council elections aren’t that competitive,” Terry said. “They are aren’t trained to compete at a place like this.”

Mahan, the council president, has criticized some of the candidate endorsement strategies of the Harvard Republican Club, but said he fully supported last night’s party.

“I am definitely in favor of anything that groups are doing to emphasize the issues and bring out voters,” Mahan said.

Terry said that the nine candidates that the Vote or Die Family chose to support were chosen by a coalition of “pretty active” black students.

The students identified black, Hispanic and Asian candidates who were well connected to their communities and had the potential to serve the interests of the diverse student body, he said.

Terry criticized many of the current council members for being out of touch with student needs.

“It’s like asking Clarence Thomas what his favorite rap album is,” Terry said.

Kimberly D. Williams ’06, who is running for the council from Adams House and was endorsed by the Vote or Die Family, said she thought the council was currently unrepresentative.

“I think it’s good to have more women and minorities on the council,” Williams said. “I don’t think the current membership is proportional to the student body.”

Last night’s event was sponsored by the Black Men’s Forum, the Black Students Association and Fuerza Latina.

Also last night, the chair of the council’s Election Commission, Jonathan D. Einkauf ’06, said he held two hearings on allegations of serious campaign rules violations.

The first hearing was about a candidate who had allegedly spent what Einkauf called “prohibitive” amounts of money during his campaign, but the commission determined that this was not the case and no action was taken.

The second hearing was on reports that several friends of J. Sawallah Guseh ’06, who is seeking re-election from Currier House, brought three laptops into the Currier dining hall to log votes for him.

The election commission has prohibited campaigning in dining halls, but due to the small number of votes that were actually cast there, the commission decided against disqualifying Guseh, Einkauf said. He said Guseh would face an as-yet-undetermined penalty.

Voting runs until noon tomorrow.

—Staff writer Evan M. Vittor can be reached at evittor@fas.harvard.edu.