Section Size, Q Score Questions Will Be on UC Ballot

Students will vote on three referendum questions concerning course difficulty ratings, section size caps, and nap spaces in the Undergraduate Council presidential election next week.

Brett M. Biebelberg ’16, the Council's Rules Committee chair, confirmed that all three questions will be on the ballot when it opens for voting, though the exact wording of the questions may be modified after the Institute of Politics’ Harvard Public Opinion Project reviews them for neutrality.

Every semester, the Council allows students to submit questions to appear on the ballots of its regularly scheduled elections. Supporters of every potential question must garner 670 petition signatures for the question to make the ballot. If a majority of undergraduates cast their ballots in the election, the Council must accept the winning responses to referendum questions as its official stance.

The push to cap section sizes at 12 students has gained momentum in recent weeks, as more departments and committees continue to endorse the goal and the Harvard Teaching Campaign, the graduate student group behind the effort, began organizing an undergraduate wing to rally for support.

Although the Council endorsed the section size cap last spring, the UC required the Teaching Campaign to garner the necessary 670 signatures, rather than unilaterally pushing the question on the ballot. With the help of the UC’s education committee, organizers gathered about 1,400 signatures, more than two times the requirement, according to Biebelberg.

Last week, the Council approved automatically placing a question on whether the College should introduce student nap spaces to campus. At that time, the Council had already placed a question on the ballot about the Q Guide’s difficulty rating. The Faculty Council voted last fall to restrict student access to their peers’ responses to the difficulty-related question, prompting student outcry.

At least two potential questions failed to garner the requisite signatures or submit necessary documents in time. One involved making lab courses’ dissection requirements optional and the other called for reform of the UC’s structure.

Voting in the election will open online on Nov. 17 and run until Nov. 20 at noon.

—Staff writer Noah J. Delwiche can be reached at noah.delwiche@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @ndelwiche.