UC Might Fix Outdated Site

Even after the Undergraduate Council (UC) entertained—and ultimately dropped—a proposal this fall to allocate $15,000 toward revamping its website, some pages on the site still feature a list of council officers that is more than seven months out of date.

In early December, The Crimson ran an editorial sub-headline that read: “The Council’s website has not been kept up-to-date this semester.” At the time, the website contained a list of last year’s executive board members, including former UC Vice President Ian W. Nichols ’06, former Treasurer Faraz F.N. Munaim ’06, and former Student Affairs Committee Chair Aaron D. Chadbourne ’06.

Nichols resigned from the vice presidency last May, and both Munaim and Chadbourne chose not to seek reelection this fall.

While parts of the website were finally updated in late December—the agendas and minutes of fall meetings are now posted online—it still contains last year’s list of executive board members. Several prominent pages still list Nichols as vice-president and Munaim as treasurer. The most recent entry in the “UC News” section—entitled “Referendum Increases UC Fee to $75”—is May 5, 2004, and a link to the “UC Committees” page has expired.

In October, the council debated funding for revamping the website over e-mail, and the council created a committee to explore the feasibility of creating a new website. The item, however, was eventually withdrawn from consideration.

At the time, UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 said that overhauling the website would be a priority.

“Our website is terrible and in dire need of fixing,” Glazer said in an October council meeting. “It is not, right now, the primary contact for undergraduates, but it should be. Our website could really be an excellent tool for students.”

Glazer last night admitted that parts of the website still were not up-to-date.

“At some points on the site, the members aren’t accurate,” said Glazer. “We need to make sure our website is better. Right now it’s a little behind.”

While Glazer yesterday acknowledged that a new website might be too expensive, he said that the committee created in October, which had originally hoped to created a new site, was now exploring ways to redesign the current one.

At last week’s council meeting, Glazer announced the appointment of newly elected UC representative Chrix E. Finne ’07 as the new technology coordinator.

According to Glazer, Finne will oversee the redesign and be responsible for maintaining the website.

“[The website committee] has also been working with the technology coordinator. He took a good look at the code behind the website and is learning how to operate it best,” said Glazer. “He is going to be making any changes that the committee sees fit, including content changes.”

—Staff writer Alexander D. Blankfein can be reached at ablankf@fas.harvard.edu.