UC To Launch Haiti Website

The Undergraduate Council will launch its Harvard for Haiti Web site this evening to help coordinate Haitian relief efforts between the UC and House Committees, according to UC leaders.

The Web site will serve as a portal through which students can donate to various Haiti relief efforts on behalf of their House or freshman dormitory yards—a tactic that taps into the stronger connection students often feel for a House initiative versus a Harvard-wide project, according to UC Vice President Eric N. Hysen ’11.

Instead of allowing students to directly donate to Haiti, the site will provide links to outside relief groups that each House or freshman dorm group has endorsed, according to Hysen.

“It’s not a competition,” said UC President Johnny F. Bowman ’11. “The point is not to see who can raise the most amount of money, but simply for students to donate on behalf of something they feel very close to.”

The idea for the Web site originated last week in a meeting that gathered together Bowman, Hysen, Associate Dean of Student Life Joshua G. McIntosh, and over 20 HoCo representatives.

The group decided that a Web site collating various aid opportunities would be the most effective response to the crisis in Haiti, according to Hysen, a computer science concentrator who designed the interface of the Web site.

Dunster HoCo co-chair Alana J. Biden ’11 said she was pleased with the partnership that has formed between the UC and HoCos.

Dunster HoCo representatives will be tabling at Dunster dining hall tonight to publicize the Web site and to encourage House residents to donate, she said.

“It’s definitely a good idea,” said Mather HoCo co-chair David L. Billing ’11. “I think we can reach a different group of people than the UC can just reach alone.”

The original intention of the Website was to serve as the home page for the upcoming student-run Harvard for Haiti Benefit Concert. But the concert’s site will now be hosted directly by the Boston-based organization Partners in Health “for simplicity’s sake,” according to Hysen. The decision was made yesterday, he said.

The Feb. 12 benefit concert in Sanders Theatre, which will broadcast online, will feature performances by pianist Charlie Albright ’11, concert violinist Ryu Goto ’11, the Harvard Glee Club, and Kuumba Singers, according to concert coordinator Barthalomew A. Sillah ’12.

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