This annual ritual is about more than just identifying next year's council leaders because it forces candidates to come up with a vision for the future of the council.

"I think that, in a lot of ways, the UC is a very formal institution," says Stewart. "There's not much down time to sit and reflect about what the future of the council and the campus should be."

The campaign is just such an opportunity. Candidates, if they want to win, will have to tell voters how they will make their mark on campus, and they have to sell their goals to the student body.

"It's a good opportunity to put competing visions of the UC in the marketplace and allow the council to do some reflection about where it's been and where it's going," says Stewart.

Unfortunately, in a very real sense, the presidential election is the only election that a council member will have to fight for in his or her time at Harvard.

While council members ostensibly run for their seats on the council, in some districts--such as Dunster House this year--there are more available seats than there are candidates willing to fill them, and so the election to the council itself becomes little more than a formality.

As a result, the council has been facing questions of legitimacy in recent years. If council members do not truly compete for office, but instead merely sign up for it, how can they claim to represent the campus?