Undergraduate Council (UC) President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 called the 24th session of the UC to order last night, asking for a renewed focus on student life and issues facing the broader Harvard community.

“We are not a student group, we are a student government,” said Glazer. He urged UC members to make the council “a forum for discussion and debate for the whole campus.”

Glazer’s remarks plotted a general course for a UC that saw a high turnover this year. Twenty-seven of the council’s 49 seats are occupied by new representatives. (See election results below.)

Many members said they were optimistic about the new council.

“I’m pretty excited about the fact that we have so many new members coming in,” said Connor C. Wilson ’07, a new representative from Adams House. “I’m hoping that this is a significant year in the UC’s history, and that [we will] really change the way the UC does business.”

Although the first meeting of the council was introductory in tone, it did include elections for the secretary and treasurer positions.

Ashwin Kaja ’07 was elected secretary, promising to focus on communication and to be a clerical resource for UC members.

Matthew R. Greenfield ’08 was elected treasurer after being nominated without opposition. He promised to bring accountability to UC finances.

“I want to emphasize that the accountability of the treasury is immensely important,” said Greenfield. “Essentially, we have had a lot of problems, and I want you to be able to hold me accountable.”

As part of the reform package passed by the council last year, the treasurer will now chair the treasury board, made up of the treasurer, a vice-treasurer, and treasurers of the three committees that comprise the UC.

According to Greenfield, this year’s council will oversee the largest budget in UC history.

Both Glazer and Vice President Clay T. Capp ’06 said they were looking forward to the coming year.

“I’m really excited,” said Capp. “This is an extremely talented group. This council is clearly very talented, diverse, and committed to its constituents.”

Although Glazer refrained from setting a formal agenda, after the meeting he broadly outlined some of the issues he hoped to work on this semester. He said he hoped to improve social planning and get more student input into the ongoing Harvard College Curricular Review.

Glazer said he also hopes to continue “the tremendous amount of work” the UC has done in lobbying for improved dining hall hours.

Many representatives also spoke of improving communication between the UC and the student body, with an emphasis on student groups.

“I’d personally like to see the UC drawn out more, working with student groups to promote their events,” said Wilson.

—Staff writer Alexander D. Blankfein can be reached at ablankf@fas.harvard.edu