“There’s a general sense that the campus isn’t fun, that people aren’t happy,” he says. “Pushing everyone even harder isn’t going to produce better Harvard graduates.”

Some of Chopra’s concerns may be driven by his personal experience as council president, a job that he says often occupies him for forty hours per week and leaves him exhausted. Taking an active role in debates over preregistration and more recently in the decision to convert parts of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center into a dance center, Chopra says, has been stressful—so much so that he sometimes wants to leave Harvard altogether.

Chopra said he is “very seriously” considering taking next semester off and says he needs “distance” from the school whose recent direction he has played a large part in shaping.

“I have a very strong love-hate relationship with the institution. I wouldn’t have done all that I’ve done if I didn’t both love and hate it,” he said.

—Staff writer Ebonie D. Hazle can be reached at hazle@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer William B. Higgins can be reached at whiggins@fas.harvard.edu.