UC Meets Board of Overseers

In a rare meeting with undergraduates, more than half of the members of the Board of Overseers and President Drew G. Faust spoke with seven Undergraduate Council (UC) delegates in Loeb House on Saturday to discuss issues surrounding student life.

According to UC members present at the meeting, the conversation covered issues as diverse as faculty-student relations, teaching quality, mental health, housing, financial aid, and social life.

“We had a more theoretical discussion about the college and what it means to go here,” UC President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 said.

The Board of Overseers, which comprises 30 graduates of the University elected by their fellow alumni, is Harvard’s secondary governing board. The seven-member Harvard Corporation makes most of the school’s key decisions, such as setting the University’s budget.

At the hour-long talk, students first presented several issues they wanted to address, but the meeting quickly turned to conversational questions and answers.

“It surprised me just how genuinely interested they were to hear about our experiences as Harvard students,” Tamar Holoshitz ’10 said of the Overseers. “They’re really interested to hear about what social life is like for Harvard students.”

UC delegates said that the Overseers—who were in school before House randomization—were also eager to discuss House renovations. Sundquist added that they were interested in hearing opinions on the creation of undergraduate Houses in Allston.

Sundquist called the conversation “a good first step” and said, “I think it would be great if we continued open communication with the Overseers.”

However, though UC representatives said they found the meeting encouraging, they emphasized that it could only have limited effects.

“You get the feeling that [the Overseers are] almost too powerful to make a difference,” said Jon T. Staff V ’10, a UC delegate from Currier House and a member of the Student Affairs Committee.

None of the Overseers could be reached for comment.

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