UC Hosts Banquet To Honor 25 Years

Undergraduate Council representatives and UC alumni gathered in Eliot Dining Hall Saturday night for a banquet celebrating the council’s twenty-fifth anniversary.

Some of the event’s elegant table settings went unused, however—while UC Vice President Randall S. Sarafa ’09 said that between 40 and 50 alumni had originally RSVPed, only 10 to 15 showed up.

The UC allotted up to $4,000 for the celebration, but with turnout low, UC Finance Committee Chair Andrea R. Flores ’10 said that it is unlikely that the council spent the entire amount.

Sarafa said the banquet would be bankrolled by UC-run ventures such as the “One Ring” program and CrimsonReading.org.

“We have every intention of having it not come from term bill money,” Sarafa said.

The anniversary celebration coincides with an upcoming Faculty of Arts and Sciences review of the role of students in Harvard governance, known as Dowling II.

The review will be the first institutional assessment of the UC since its inception—as part of the report of the Dowling Committee—in 1982.

“I think it’s the perfect time with Dowling II coming up,” Flores said of the celebration.

The dinner was the culmination of an evening of UC events designed to improve alumni relations and solicit future donations to the council.

“It was a great first step to strengthening the UC’s ties with its alums,” Sarafa said.

Several current and former representatives said the events were a way to increase alumni donations and establish a better alumni network.

“It’s really wise to bring them back and make them feel connected to the UC,” said former UC Vice President Clay T. Clapp ’06.

“I’m glad to have been contacted,” former UC Representative M. Lance Kussell ’87 said. “It’s nice to talk across generations within the Harvard community.”

A symposium in Kirkland House preceded the banquet, and featured speeches by former UC executives—and former Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71—about changes in the council over the years and visions for the future of the UC.

The evening resulted in at least one high-profile donation, as Gross concluded his speech at the symposium by handing the UC a check, representing what he called a “small contribution.”

(UC members declined to reveal the exact amount Gross gave.)

Former UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 said in his keynote speech at the banquet that a desire to serve the student body and improve the College ties UC members together.

“It’s that commitment that carried us through the past quarter century and hopefully will carry us through the next quarter century and more,” Glazer said.

—Staff writer Chelsea L. Shover can be reached at clshover@fas.harvard.edu.