Regaining Trust

Harvard’s Undergraduate Council is used to the accusation of being out of touch with undergraduates. While the body is on every new student’s mind freshman fall, enthusiasm seems to die out once students become upperclassmen. House representatives are more difficult to recruit, and voter apathy is prevalent. It is therefore encouraging to see the UC acknowledging the problem and taking measures to solve it.

The UC plans to change students’ indifferent attitudes toward it through new legislation calling the formation of the UC-House Committee liaison program. Starting this year, representatives from the UC will be required to be present at their respective house’s weekly HoCo meetings. We welcome this new approach and hope the UC takes full advantage of it.

This new initiative aims to reconnect students with the UC by becoming more involved with house life. The legislation will also allow the UC to receive feedback from HoCos and be more involved in students’ lives. A dialogue between the two student bodies will help fortify ties between the UC and its constituents, making student concerns better heard. This will also dovetail well with the UC’s new efforts to acquire more data on different topics concerning student life in the form of surveys and polls, which were also set forth in the recent legislation.

The increased focus on HoCos also calls attention to the need to monitor spending of UC funds and highlights problems with house budgets. Currently, HoCos receive their funding from the UC, and all houses, regardless of their size, work under the same budget. It would be wise for the UC to review this arrangement and consider updating it reflect the large disparities in size between houses. Bigger houses might need bigger funds. The UC can take the opportunity to investigate whether money is being properly managed and propose new ideas.

The UC seems to be actively trying to get more in touch with students. We hope they remain excited about these new approaches and that students respond in kind.