HUA Problem Solving Team Blows Past July Deadline, Leaving Future in Doubt

The group assembled by the Harvard Undergraduate Association in response to a constitutional crisis that resulted in the indefinite postponement of all student referenda last semester has stopped meeting and does not appear to have any plans to resolve the dispute, a member of the group said.

The dispute stemmed from a petition filed by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee to hold a referendum among the student body on whether Harvard should divest from institutions supporting “Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”

Two former HUA officers, however, halted the referendum by invoking an obscure procedural motion that effectively prevented the HUA from holding any future referenda after the group received a second, competing parody petition. The motion forced the HUA to establish a problem solving team to review the HUA’s constitution.

The problem solving team initially pledged to issue recommendations by the beginning of July. It also intended to appoint a team chair, a secretary, and reach out to professors at Harvard for additional guidance on reforming the HUA’s constitution.

But after nearly four months, the problem solving team has made almost no progress.

Lorenzo Z. Ruiz ’27, a member of the problem solving team, said there was “zero communication” over the summer between the members of the group. Ruiz also said that he does not believe the group will reconvene in the fall.

“The sense that I get as a member of the problem solving team is that this is an issue that’s going to fade away quietly,” said Ruiz, a Crimson Editorial editor.

“I just don’t think necessarily that the petition or the procedural concerns that arose from this petition are going to be top of mind for the people involved on the team, for the HUA, or for anyone at the University,” he added.

The HUA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Though at their initial meeting in April, members of the problem solving team discussed reforming the HUA’s constitution so it would not face constitutional questions in the future, it does not appear the team will make any progress toward that goal either.

The problem solving team’s lack of progress adds further uncertainty to the status of the PSC’s petition for a student-wide vote on divestment.

At one point, the problem solving committee appeared to consider whether the “usage of Harvard facilities, the names of Harvard College buildings, the Harvard University endowment, and other Harvard University schools” could be considered in a referendum under the HUA’s current constitution and scope of governance.

Ruiz said that students should not expect the problem solving committee to offer answers to those questions anytime soon.

“The problem solving team began with lofty expectations for its own achievement and fell dramatically short of those expectations,” Ruiz said.

—Staff writer Adithya V. Madduri can be reached at adithya.madduri@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.