Joshua A. Barro ’05 hustles into the Adams House dining hall in a crisp, dark gray suit and crimson tie. He’s tired. He’s just spent the day searching for endorsements from Harvard student groups, and has only gotten that of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC).

Barro and his running mate Christina L. Adams ’06 are conservative candidates. They’re longtime Undergraduate Council members, running on a platform that centers around publicizing and seeking to build on their past accomplishments.

And while other candidates have sites bashing competitors or friends dressing up in bird suits, the Barro-Adams ticket’s most radical campaign poster is a toss-up between “Reason 69: Giggle” and “Reason 53: Free Beer.”

At the beginning of the semester the two sat down and brainstormed why people should vote for them, and compiled a list of 100 reasons—33 things they’ve accomplished, and 67 that they will.

“We looked at the list and there were a lot of things we wanted to do,” Adams said. “We are running because we want to make everything that the UC does, done efficiently.”

Barro, a member of the Republican Club who is considering a future in politics, believes that his and Adams’ experience on the council helps make them a very strong team, and that they are ready to move from leading committees to leading the council as a whole.

“Other candidates have been things on the UC, but we’ve actually done things,” said Barro.

1-33: “Our Record”

Nearly all the candidates are vowing to “improve campus life,” but Barro and Adams say that they have a specific outline for how to do it, and strong experience in College finances that they say will help them make it happen.

Barro has served on the council’s Finance Committee for three semesters, as chair for the past two. During his tenure, the committee increased the budget for student groups from $145,000 to $180,000.

He says this will help him win votes from members of both the HRC and the Harvard College Democrats—even though only the HRC has officially endorsed him, because of his past experience and commitment to helping student groups.

“We really liked that they have a past track record working for student groups and believe that they will ensure that student groups get the funding they need,” says Mark T. Silvestri ’05, HRC spokesperson.

Adams also brings council leadership experience to the table. She served last year as services vice-chair for the council’s Campus Life Committee (CLC), and now she is the CLC’s social vice-chair. Under her tenure, the committee initiated Dollar Movie Nights, which have featured such films as The Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo. Now, she wants to bring to campus movies that haven’t even been released yet, like MIT’s sneak preview nights.

Barro has worked to redistribute council funds, so that the largest groups—those he sees as having the greatest student impact—receive the most funding.

“Now the largest groups on campus have seen a dramatic increase in grants by the UC,” Barro says.