Students To Sit On Hilles Advisory Board

The Student Organization Center at Hilles (SOCH) is hoping to put its operations into student hands when a newly-formed student advisory board convenes next month.

According to the center’s manager David R. Friedrich, 10 to 12 students selected through an open application process will sit on the advisory board, which will participate in decision-making regarding Hilles’ events and policies. It will also oversee the annual re-application and allocation of student group office space.

According to Friedrich, the board’s first priorities will be to develop a system of getting input from the student body, which some criticize has been lacking thus far. The board will also be instrumental in planning events like the weekly Penthouse Coffee Bar Acoustic Nights, which launched last Thursday, Friedrich said.

Mather House Undergraduate Council (UC) Representative Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 wrote in an e-mail that although the idea of an advisory board is “fantastic,” students should have had earlier input on the design of the Hilles center.

“Unfortunately, the administration has chosen to create a student center without walls, and in the Quad. The way that the space was allocated simply doesn’t make sense, and the Advisory Board is simply too little, too late,” Sundquist wrote.

The UC is also attempting to ensure that they have input in the running of Hilles. The council passed a bill at last night’s meeting entitled “The Hilles Liaison Act,” which calls for the appointment of a UC member who will sit on the advisory board as a liaison.

The liaison will keep the UC up to date on student group news, and be involved in coordinating events, according to Soren R. Rosier ’10, who co-sponsored the bill with Amadi P. Anene ’08.

Rosier said that given the UC’s role in representing student interests, it should play a role in directing the new space.

“The UC, being a very powerful lobbying committee as I see it, can speak on the students’ behalf,” Rosier said, adding that he hoped the UC will help student groups “maximize the use of the Hilles student center.”

Anene said that he hoped details of the position would be finalized in the coming week, and that in time the liaison’s seat on the advisory board would become institutionalized.

The liaison would most likely be appointed by UC President John S. Haddock ’07, according to Anene.

Sundquist said it was problematic that the board will be chaired by an administrator rather than a student.

“Students need to be able to have an equal influence in setting the agenda, running meetings, and making decisions. For it to work, students would need to be co-chairing the committee, and thus being just as responsible for decision-making,” Sundquist wrote.

—Staff writer Elaine Chen can be reached at chen23@fas.harvard.edu.