UC Backs Reform of Blocking Procedure

The Undergraduate Council (UC) passed legislation advocating for changes to the blocking and interhouse transfer processes and for extended dining hall hours at its meeting last night.

In an effort to make blocking more “flexible,” the House Neighborhood and Blocking Alignment System Act calls for two blocking groups to be able to align with each other and be placed in neighboring Houses.

The two aligned blocking groups—still consisting of no more than eight students each—would not be placed in the same House, in order to preserve House diversity, said John S. Haddock ’07, the bill’s sponsor.

Houses will be divided into four zones or “neighborhoods” in which aligned blocking groups will be randomly placed.

According to Haddock, one of the major problems faced by undergraduates in the blocking process is the question of whether or not to block with one’s significant other.

“That might not be the selling point, but I think it is a concern that any proctor or prefect or freshman can tell you is an issue,” Haddock said, when a representative questioned whether the section of the legislation mentioning significant others was necessary.

Co-sponsor Ryan A. Petersen ’08 said that the administrators whom the pair have talked to so far have been positive about the idea.

“Now we’ll really enter into negotiation,” Petersen said.

UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 was also optimistic about the implementation of the act, which will now be presented to the Committee on House Life (CHL).

“I’ve only heard positive feedback,” he said.

In another call for change to College housing, the UC passed a bill to alter the interhouse transfer process.

Under the current system, students may only transfer by themselves or in pairs and are required to transfer if their request gets accepted. The UC’s legislation lays out a plan in which pairs can link together—much like the blocking legislation—and refuse their transfers if one of the two pairs does not get its transfer application accepted.

One representative asked if the system would cause a spike in students requesting transfers.

Joshua Patashnik ’07, the bill’s sponsor, said, “There are students for whatever reason who do want to transfer and you want to make the process as easy as possible for them.”

The bill also asks for increased information to be available to students on the number of possible transfers to and from each House.

Students would still not be allowed to transfer out of Houses in large groups.

Turning their attention to House dining, the UC passed legislation advocating for extended dining hall hours. At last month’s CHL meeting, Student Affairs Committee (SAC) members presented the results of their phone survey of 270 students, which showed high demand for longer dining hours.

The legislation, which calls for dinner hours to be extended to at least 8:30 p.m., will be brought up in future discussions with Harvard University Dining Services, according to SAC Chair Aaron D. Chadbourne ’06.

In other business, Chair of the Reform Commission Jonathan D. Einkauf ’06 presented legislation that would reform the UC’s structure.

The commission has been developing its plan for reform over the past semester and was originally slated to make its recommendations before spring break.

According to Einkauf, most of the changes are to the UC’s bylaws, which would require a two-thirds majority of UC votes to pass. However, constitutional changes, such as changing the length of the treasurer’s term, could require more time to pass if any amendments are made to the legislation, since an additional week would be necessary before a vote could be taken.

The UC voted to send the reform legislation to SAC for review this week before voting at next week’s meeting.

Glazer said after the meeting that he was hopeful that the reform package would pass.

“The document was released tonight but the proposal’s been out for two weeks,” he said. “I think it’s very thorough.”

But some representatives were worried that changes to the grants system, which is often criticized and which Glazer has said needs to be “streamlined,” were not included in the reform package.

Einkauf and Glazer said that the chair of the Finance Committee will implement changes beginning next semester to improve the grants procedure.

—Staff writer Liz C. Goodwin can be reached at goodwin@fas.harvard.edu.