Although the council’s work with new Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 has been amiable, the council has had to adjust to working with a fresh face, Chopra says.

“Whenever a new person comes in, you have to make yourself a visible force in the decision-making process. Otherwise, they’re never going to see you as a person who should be involved,” Chopra says.

“We don’t always agree,” Gross writes in an e-mail. “Chopra isn’t hesitant to push hard, at the margins of the possible.”

Advantageous Allies

Chopra’s close interaction with the Faculty has helped him in his relentless pursuit of student services, according to many council members.

“He is very big on personal, one-on-one contact with the decision-makers in the administration. We know who to go to about each issue,” says council Vice President Jessica R. Stannard-Friel ’04.

Chopra’s ties to faculty developed over his two-and-a-half years of work on the council’s Student Affairs Committee (SAC), according to Stannard-Friel.

Chopra offered advice to University President Lawrence H. Summers on the naming of a new dean of the Faculty in 2002 and served on multiple student-Faculty committees during his years on SAC.

Chopra corresponds daily by e-mail with many top administrators, including Gross.

Indeed, Gross and other Faculty members seem not only to like Chopra, but also to respect him as an authoritative voice for student concerns.

“I have an excellent working relationship with him” and “a great deal of respect for his opinions on questions of student life,” Gross writes in an e-mail.

Kirby, or “Bill” to Chopra, calls him “a good and forthright proponent of the issues that matter most to the U.C.”

Last year, Chopra forged an even closer relationship with Lewis, who served as the council’s faculty advisor during his deanship. Lewis was something of a mentor to Chopra, and worked unofficially with him to help guide specific projects.

Council members say that Lewis was instrumental in their effort to more directly affect student life and that he was willing to deal with small issues, like later keycard access to Houses and extended party hours. Both of these initiatives would probably not have materialized without the help of Lewis, Chopra says.

His work with Lewis has left Chopra with a web of faculty contacts and an intimate knowledge of the workings of the administration.