UC Backs Student-Led J-Term Programming

In response to the limited number of programming options offered during the College’s inaugural January Term, the Undergraduate Council will collaborate with over a dozen student groups to create new on-and off-campus opportunities for next year.

In the coming month, the UC leadership will submit to the College administration a comprehensive proposal detailing each student organization’s ideas for J-term programming, according to UC Vice President Eric N. Hysen ’11.

“It will be a working process and dialogue [with the administration],” Hysen said, noting that the UC hopes to encourage the College to increase the number of students granted housing during J-term so that they can take advantage of potential opportunities on campus next year.

Hysen said that the administration’s main concern regarding J-term housing is the assurance that students on campus are involved in legitimate and productive activities—as opposed to “just letting anyone who wants to go to one meeting a week” stick around.

UC President Johnny F. Bowman ’11 noted the additional financial considerations of opening up more dining halls besides Annenberg—a move that would require extra funding for food and staffing.

Hysen said that the UC has contacted about 30 groups—including the Institute of Politics, Harvard Undergraduate Television, the Voice, and Phillips Brooks House Association—to ask for potential programming ideas, associated costs, the number of students a program would involve, a sample daily schedule, and whether a program would be open to the entire student body or only to organization members. About 15 groups have responded with fairly concrete answers, according to Hysen.

For example, HUTV hopes to use J-term next year to produce and shoot a short film on campus—an opportunity for which all students can apply through a process that will ultimately select a 30-student team of producers, actors, and crew members, according to HUTV President Tiffany N. Fereydouni ’11.

PBHA Vice President Christopher J. Loney ’11 said the organization was looking to expand upon this year’s initiatives, which included Habitat for Humanity trips to Guatemala and New Orleans, after school programs, and work with the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter.

According to FAS Spokesman Jeff A. Neal, the administration is waiting on the completion of the winter break survey e-mailed to undergraduates by Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds in January before weighing in on any decisions regarding next year’s J-term.

“Because the survey isn’t complete, we do not have information we can share at this time,” Neal wrote in an e-mailed statement on Friday.

—Staff writer Janie M. Tankard can be reached at jtankard@fas.harvard.edu.