Dean Announces UC Review Committee

Five faculty members and five undergraduates were named yesterday as the members of a committee the College has formed with the purpose of reviewing the role and responsibilities of the Undergraduate Council, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith announced in an e-mail to the College yesterday.

Though the UC itself nominated five students—two on the UC and three not on the UC—only two of its recommendations were taken, those who are members of the Council.

The 10 committee members will take a critical look at the College’s student governance for the first time since the Council’s inception 25 years ago. The UC members on the committee are Vice President Randall S. Sarafa ’09 and Eliot House representative Prithvi R. Shankar ’09. Gee Hyun “Sussan” Lee ’09, Heidi Kim ’09, and Jamison A. Hill ’10, who is also a Crimson news writer, will fill the other three student spots.

Last month, the UC invited students not on the Council to apply to be nominated to the committee, acknowledging that the final selection would be made by Smith. The UC made three recommendations based on the application and an interview process, but none were ultimately chosen to serve on the committee.

“At this point I think the UC did all it could in instituting a fair process on its end,” Sarafa said, “I’m sure the committee will do good work despite that.”

Professor John E. Dowling ’57, who chaired the committee that established the UC in 1982 and will chair this committee as well, said yesterday that the non-UC members were selected to form a diverse committee and that students even wrote to him asking to serve on the committee.

Dowling added that the committee will invite every interested undergraduate to contribute to the review by commenting, and at least one of the UC’s original selections plans to take Dowling up on the offer.

Ellora A. Derenoncourt ’09 said a few weeks ago after she found out that she was not invited to serve on the committee that she still planned to participate in the review somehow.

In addition to Dowling, the other faculty members on the committee include Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67, Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd, Mather House Master Sandra R. Naddaff ’75, and Eric M. Nelson ’99, a government professor and former UC member.

In an e-mail sent yesterday to all Harvard undergraduates, Smith referred to the “Committee to review the Undergraduate Council,” where previously the body had been called the Committee to Review the Role of the Student in College Governance. But Dowling said that he does not plan for the committee to focus exclusively on the UC.

The committee will meet for the first time this morning and on alternate Wednesdays afterward for the remainder of the semester and likely into the fall, according to Dowling. Dowling said he and UC President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 are also planning to conduct an internal review of the UC this summer.

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