Insider Wants Inclusive UC

Andrea R. Flores ’10 and Kia J. McLeod ’10 hardly fit the mold of typical campus politicians.

Flores, a Latina from New Mexico, and McLeod, a black woman from Georgia, comprise one of the two frontrunner tickets—a pairing that would bring a new look to a historically male Undergraduate Council leadership.

But Flores and McLeod do not want to be known as the minority ticket.

“I would rather be called the UC insider than the female, Latina candidate,” Flores says.

Flores brings the experience: she has served on the UC’s executive board for five semesters and said she hopes to capitalize on that experience to implement her numerous policy goals.

McLeod brings the energy: her Southern charm and theater background make her an engaging force on the campaign trail.

During the first week of the campaign, the Flores-McLeod ticket has had no difficulty racking up endorsements, garnering support from both the Harvard College Democrats and the Harvard Republican Club.

But the question remains—can Flores, a surprisingly shy politician, connect with voters and generate the level of enthusiasm necessary to win the election?

THE PLAN

Flores and McLeod say they are running on a platform of “short-term priorities and a long-term vision.”

Their primary goal—one they have in common with the Schwartz-Biggers campaign—is to improve the quality of student social life, which Flores says has declined after the elimination of party grants last year.

“More than most years, this year is unique because there is no big, defining issue,” current UC president Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 says. “Ideas are going to win the campaign—who has the best ones and how they are going to implement them.”

Among the immediate, concrete changes Flores and McLeod aim to enact are funding Beverage Authorization Teams to police events that provide alcohol and renting out the Cambridge Center for Adult Education on Brattle Street as a venue for students to hold parties and other social events.

But as Flores and McLeod have gone door-to-door in the Yard during the first week of campaigning, it is the pair’s long-term plan for academic reform that has generated the most excitement with students.

Flores and McLeod say their own difficult, at times even “terrifying,” transitions to Harvard from communities that they felt did not adequately prepare them academically led them to consider proposing a pass/no-record system for first-semester freshmen—a system MIT has in place—as a way of easing the first-year experience.

But the likelihood of implementing this plan is questionable. Last month, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds—a former MIT graduate student and professor—challenged the feasibility of a transition to this grading system at the College when the issue was raised at a tea she held for undergraduates.

On a more general level, like many candidates, Flores and McLeod say they want to make the UC an open, inclusive, and responsive organization, as many students doubt the Council’s relevance.

“The UC shouldn’t be an exclusive club, right? It should be very clear who you need to go to, what deans groups need to work with, and that should not be special knowledge for the president and vice president,” Flores says.

THE EXPERIENCE

Exclusivity is not the only tradition Flores hopes to change. If elected, Flores would be the first UC president to emerge from the Council’s Finance Committee in about a decade.

“Someone who comes from FiCom should be taken seriously. It is the single most powerful student group on campus,” former UC representative and member of FiCom Jay W. Anderson ’09 says.

During her tenure, Flores controlled nearly half a million dollars and kept the Council’s budget running with a surplus.

Flores also worked to make the UC grants process more accessible to students groups, says Sean C. Robinson ’09, also a former FiCom member.

“I really have appreciated the way she’s been very accommodating of student groups,” says Kiran N. Bhat ’10, the treasurer of the South Asian Association. “She made an earnest effort to really streamline the process.”

Still, Flores’ leadership is not without its critics.

“She inherited a unique situation,” Anderson says. “She was a sophomore when she became chair and FiCom was a junior/senior committee...It was a little bit challenging to get everyone on board because people had ideas of how things should be run, because people were used to a very organized, disciplined committee under Randall [Sarafa].”

THE POLITICAL PERSONALITY?

Flores knows her script; her five semesters on the UC have endowed her with a wealth of knowledge about the organization’s structure and function. But sitting back in her chair, sometimes speaking quickly, her delivery reflects some lingering shyness.

“I was definitely shy before I was outgoing,” Flores says with a laugh.

Because the two serious tickets are running on similar issues, the defining factor will likely be which candidate can craft—and sell—the better campaign narrative, says Sundquist. He adds that the Flores-McLeod ticket may have trouble engaging voters on a personal level.

Sitting beside Flores, leaning forward in her chair and speaking a few decibels louder than her running mate, McLeod exudes energy,

“[Kia] reminds me about why I’m excited about the council,” Flores says. “She brings so much energy to this ticket.”

Speaking to freshmen in Greenough Hall, McLeod seems in her element, meeting students with a smile and a well-rehearsed stump speech about academic reform and social life geared toward freshman voters.

Though McLeod’s personality has been the dominant one on the ticket, when Flores begins talking about her potential political future, the usual shyness falls away—she slows down, leans forward, and engages.

“Where I grew up, politics is the only thing that ever did anything for anyone I knew,” Flores says.