UC Announces 43 New Representatives

The Undergraduate Council announced the results of its general election last night, confirming the selection of 43 members for the 2010-2011 term. With 112 candidates competing, this year’s election was the most competitive in recent years, according to UC President Johnny F. Bowman ’11.

Four House races were contested this year and the freshman yards—which are typically the most competitive—saw a nearly 70 percent increase in candidates, with 73 candidates vying for 12 positions. UC Vice President Eric N. Hysen ’11 attributed the leap in interest to the higher profile of the UC during the first weeks of school, including playing an official role in freshman convocation and sponsoring a soccer game.

“A lot of people did student council in high school,” said Jimmy P. Biblarz ’14, a newly elected Crimson Yard representative. “It’s not really that surprising at Harvard when you think about it.”

Hysen expressed disappointment, however, at the gender imbalance of the new council—only nine of the newly elected representatives are female.

The number of candidates with UC experience also increased this year, with 16 returning candidates, as opposed to 13 last year. All but one of the returning candidates were reelected to the council.

“It’s always good to have new thoughts, new ideas, new people, but at the same time it’s good to have people who know how the UC works,” said Winthrop House UC representative Chris A. Devine ’13, who served as a West Yard representative last year.

The biggest source of increased continuity in the UC, however, will be the new policy of term roll overs for executive board members. While in previous years, only the president and vice president held calendar-year terms and the committee chairs had to seek reelection each fall, for the first time, committee chairs will now hold their seats for one extra semester, instead coming up for reelection in January. According to Devine, this will allow the UC to jump into committee work more quickly over the next few weeks.

This election cycle was the first since the implementation of the UC’s election reform recommendations, which were formulated this spring in reaction to the controversy surrounding the election of Bowman and Hysen. Last November, an e-mail sent from the official presidential e-mail address alleged that Hysen may have had access to the voting software during the presidential race, leading to controversy over the validity of the election results.

The most significant changes concerned the makeup of the UC Election Commission and technological access to the voting website. For the first time, no members of the UC sat on the Commission, and no students were able to access the election results until after the election was over.

“In terms of changes we can control, in terms of setting up the function of the commission and the technology side, we’ve done all we can,” said current Finance Committee Chair Luis A. Martinez ’12, who spearheaded the election reform efforts as the head of the UC Rules Committee last semester.

—Staff writer Stephanie B. Garlock can be reached at sgarlock@college.harvard.edu.