UC Funds Creation of Pregnancy Resources

After heated debate, the Undergraduate Council passed legislation yesterday allocating $300 to the creation of brochures that inform students about the options available to pregnant women at Harvard. The Council also granted $24,151.45 to student groups in its first round of funding for the spring semester.

The brochure will provide information on options relating both to termination and to pre-natal and post-natal care.

The bill, which was co-sponsored by high-ranking members of the Harvard College Women’s Center, Harvard Right to Life, Harvard Students for Choice, and the Radcliffe Union of Students, allocated $150 to the design of the brochure and $150 to its printing. The Women’s Center is allocating an additional $300 to the effort.

Susan Y. Yao ’09-’10, an intern at the Women’s Center and a sponsor of the legislation, said the bill allows students a means to get information that is consistent—rather than being dependent on which doctor’s office students go to.

“There wasn’t a very transparent process if students found themselves pregnant,” Yao said.

Eric N. Hysen ’11, the council’s parliamentarian, proposed an amendment to strike funding the brochure. Hysen said that funding the brochure would set a precedent that the UC was willing to fund projects when The College should be paying for them.

Doug R. Lloyd ’09, the UC’s secretary and the sole dissenting vote on the bill, voiced his belief that the expenditure had not been thoroughly thought out.

“I’m concerned we’ve moved through this process way too quickly,” he said. “I just don’t want to have the UC’s money wasted.”

But Tamar Holoshitz ’10, chair of the UC’s Student Affairs Committee, said the funding was a “drop in the bucket” compared to the money the UC normally spends. She added that the legislation had been the works for at least a year and a half.

Debate became contentious over the amendment and parliamentary procedure, which pitted some UC members against Hysen.

When the amendment failed, with only four votes in support, Holoshitz called for a roll-call vote on the final legislation, which both Hysen and Lloyd called political.

“I think when you vote as a council representative you should be accountable to your vote,” Holoshitz said.

Ultimately Hysen voted for the bill and said the roll-call vote did not affect his decision to support the bill, which he said he strongly supports.

At the same meeting, the UC allocated $24,151.45 to 86 different projects in its spring grants packet legislation. That package received one amendment, proposed by Cyrus M. Mossavar-Rahmani ’09. He attempted to strike funding for On Harvard Time’s mural, but the motion ultimately failed.

“I think On Harvard Time is a kind of clique that funds itself pretty generously so it’s not clear why the UC should fund a group that’s already pretty well taken care of,” he said.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.