Students Should Be Included on Committees

To the editors:

I am glad to hear of the formation of a committee to consider the economic welfare and opportunities of lower-paid workers at Harvard (News, “University To Announce Proposal to End Sit-in,” May 7). I am even more glad that the committee is to include staff and student members in addition to faculty and administrators, and that the two undergraduates and two graduate students will be selected by the Undergraduate Council and the Harvard Graduate Council, respectively. This action speaks to the necessity of fully involving representatives from throughout the University in consideration of issues of mutual concern.

I hope that the University and its faculties and departments will take this opportunity to consider the composition of other committees and forums at Harvard. I am only aware of a single University-wide or FAS-wide committee that includes both graduate and undergraduate student representatives selected by their peers in the appropriate duly constituted student organizations. A very small number of bodies include appointed student members who are not duly elected and several include one or a few graduate or undergraduate student representatives. This is in stark contrast to the situation at many other institutions, where both undergraduate and graduate students are automatically guaranteed representation on all university, faculty or department committees.

One need only look to the recent presidential search at Harvard, which included no formal involvement from students, faculty, or staff. Compare this to Princeton, where the selection committee included five professors and three students; to Columbia, with its four professors and two students; or to Brown, whose campus advisory committee included six professors and five students.

In recognizing the need for broad-based community consideration of the state of Harvard workers, the University must also recognize other issues of mutual concern in which the student viewpoint is not represented.

Adam P. Fagen

May 8, 2001

The writer is a former president of the GSAS Graduate School Council and is GSAS representative to the Harvard Graduate Council.