Moore, who grew up in Cincinnatti, Ohio, is also involved in the prefect program, CityStep, the Dunster House Committee (HoCo) and the Spee final club. The Moore-Nichols ticket has been endorsed by the BMF, the Harvard Black Students Association, the South Asian Association, the Texas Club, the Spectacle of Soul Project, the Krokodiloes, the Entourage and former Council President Rohit Chopra ’04.
“My leadership experiences have... given me the ability to interact with students in social atmospheres,” says Moore. “I’ve seen it all. This broad perspective is absolutely necessary for a council president.”
Unlike Moore, Nichols—a physics and astrophysics concentrator from Leverett House—has served as a council representative for five semesters. He co-founded the Harvard Beer Society, is a member of the Mission Hill Mentoring Program and volunteers weekly at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter.
In the middle of last week’s hectic campaign schedule, Nichols managed to pull a 12-hour night shift at the shelter.
“I’m the most experienced of the vice presidential candidates,” says Nichols, who currently serves as the vice chair of the council’s Finance Committee and last year served as the committee’s first-ever policy chair. “We complement each other very well.”
MOORE FOCUS
Criticizing his opponents for campaigns based on laundry lists of initiatives, Moore says he focuses instead on the broader problem of weak student support for the council.
“The reason that we keep it short and sweet is that you have to have some kind of focal point,” says Moore. “Of course we are going to work for all the other stuff, but first we need to have the students behind the council. Nothing can get accomplished without student support.”
Moore and Nichols say their primary concern is open and effective communication with students.
“I’m rather displeased with the way the council is working right now. It’s totally disconnected from the students,” says Nichols. “We want to build this thing from the ground up. We want to give the students what they want.”
Former FiCom Chair Joshua A. Barro ’05, who supports the Moore-Nichols ticket, says that the candidates would bring a much-needed “culture change.”
“I think the council’s biggest problem is that it is not paying attention to students anymore,” Barro says.
Moore and Nichols charge that many council members become so immersed in council politics that they aren’t willing to push the administration to get what students want.
“Instead of taking risks and advocating for what you need—things like universal card access or a 24 hour dining hall—these out-of-touch candidates from the council have put their resume building first,” Moore and Nichols write on their website.
“We need to address the issues that aren’t being resolved and tell the students what the problems are,” Nichols says.
