UC Chairs Stay Busy Over Summer

A group of Undergraduate Council (UC) members are in Cambridge this summer, taking classes and working on UC projects to unveil to the student body once the campus returns to full activity in September.

Student Affairs Committee (SAC) chair Ryan A. Petersen ’08 said that he and other UC members are determining the possible costs of cable TV access for students and investigating ways to lower the fees for coursepacks.

Though summer is “not a time to make big policy changes,” Petersen—who is on campus taking two Summer School courses—said that the summer is a good time for the UC to regroup and begin research for fall projects.

As SAC chair until UC elections in the fall, Petersen is spearheading UC work this summer. UC President John S. Haddock ’07 and Vice-President Annie R. Riley ’07, who have summer internships, have been “providing oversight,” according to Petersen.

Peterson hopes to establish a working group of students, administrators, and even faculty to look into the potential costs of delivering cable TV via the campus’s computer network. He said he would like this group to determine the costs for students of receiving cable so that by the fall, “we could stop having this argument [over getting cable] every year [that ends] without anyone actually doing anything.”

GETTING COURSEPACKS ONLINE

Efforts by the UC to reduce coursepack costs have already resulted in a significant victory. The coursebook for the perennially-popular Social Analysis 10: “Principles of Economics” will no longer come in print form. Instead, according to course coordinator Paul Kelso, all of the readings will be linked on the course’s web site.

Kelso said his office began to look into e-resources, available for free to all undergraduates through Harvard’s library system, after the UC contacted him about putting course material online. In March, the UC passed a report advocating a reduction of coursepack costs through the use of online resources.

SAC Vice-Chair for Undergraduate Education Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, who is in Cambridge for the summer to study and work, also stressed the importance of utilizing Harvard’s extensive online resources.

“Every step farther we go [at putting course readings online] is more money we could save for undergraduates,” he said.

And UC Vice-Chair for College Life Amadi P. Anene ’08—currently studying organic chemistry at the summer school—has been working to develop C-CAP, a course-cost assistance program for low-income students. Sponsored by the Students Taking on Poverty (STOP) campaign, the program would grant textbook stipends to students with family incomes under $60,000. Anene, who said he has spoken to Harvard administrators who oversee financial aid about the program, would like to see a stipend program in place by the fall.

“We’re at the point where we’re trying to work out the logistics of [textbook stipends],” Anene said.

According to Petersen, the goal for this summer is to “set up a completely functional system” for awarding stipends, so that the only remaining impediment in the fall would be funding.

Petersen is also working on developing a House life survey that he said would provide “an objective way for student life to be assessed on a House level.” If a draft is finished this summer, it would then need to be approved by the College’s Committee on House Life.

NO DECISIONS YET

Efforts to get student representation on the General Education committee of the Curricular Review will also continue, Petersen and Greenfield said. (See story, page 6).

Finally, Petersen said he will be working later this summer with the Registrar’s office to create a more useful course-browsing tool. He said his plans come as a result of the web site Michael W. Reckhow ’06 created this spring. Reckhow’s site ranked courses according to data from the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) Guide.

Haddock and Riley were unavailable to comment for this article.

“We are not making decisions,” Petersen said of the work to be done in the next month, “but we are getting ready for a fall of making decisions.”

—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.