Undergraduate Council (UC) President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 has sent
back to committee a proposed constitutional amendment that would create
an independent body to coordinate campus-wide social events.
In an e-mail to the UC-general open list on Wednesday night,
Glazer wrote that a revised version of the amendment to dissolve the
council’s Campus Life Committee and replace it with an autonomous
directly-elected Social Events Committee (SEC) will be presented to the
full council at the beginning of March.
The e-mail was signed by the incoming and outgoing UC president and vice-president.
According to UC President-elect John S. Haddock ’07, the
incoming and outgoing council leadership felt it was too soon to vote
on the proposed amendment.
“[The postponement] comes from a general agreement among all
four of us that the UC is not ready to support the SEC or to support at
this moment any new model for social programming,” Haddock said last
night. “We want to make sure that the process is fully collaborative
and inclusive.”
Two weeks ago the council voted to table debate on the SEC
amendment until after last week’s election. The council was scheduled
to meet Wednesday night to resume discussion.
But late Wednesday afternoon, Glazer cancelled the meeting and proposed sending the amendment back to committee.
“We suggest that the UC recommit the SEC to the Rules Committee
while we engage in further conversations with HoCos, student groups
involved in social planning, and the Office of Student Activities,” the
e-mail to UC-general stated.
The postponement comes in the wake of last week’s UC
presidential and vice-presidential election that may have signified a
new direction in social programming for the council.
Although Haddock and Riley originally advocated a student
referendum on the council’s role in campus-wide social events, they
argued from the beginning of the campaign that the UC should not have
any involvement in large-scale social programming. Toward the end of
the campaign, Haddock said he would support a separate programming
board.
In an interview last night, Haddock said that there were problems with the current SEC amendment.
“The SEC suffers from flaws,” said Haddock. “The most important
example is that they want to connect the president and the vice
president of the [UC] to the SEC. The current structure of the SEC does
not have the autonomy to be successful.”
Haddock also said that while a social board should be involved
in the planning of “occasional” campus-wide social events, House
Committees should be responsible for planning the bulk of student
social life.
“We strongly believe that campus community and social life is
found in Houses, groups, and the consistent programming of a permanent
pub,” said Haddock. “We think that there are occasional and infrequent
opportunities for the campus to come together for a cause, show, or
campus event.”
Glazer said that despite the postponement, there is a general
consensus on a social programming board between the current and
incoming UC leadership.
“[UC Vice-president] Clay [T. Capp ’06] and I met with John
and [incoming UC Vice-president] Annie [R. Riley ’07], and over the
course of many hours and many days, we discussed what we thought would
be the best course to pursue,” Glazer said last night. “We all agree on
the fundamental principles to guide a social programming board and we
want to make sure we do our best to engage in a collaborative effort.”
It was unclear exactly how the amendment will change. Last
night, Haddock outlined what the finalized legislation might look like.
“The board needs to be student-initiated, student-driven,
student-organized,” said Haddock. “It should have elected
representation. It should have strong ties to student groups and HoCos,
and it should have strong institutional ties to the Office of Student
Activities. Most importantly, it should be as autonomous as possible
with the UC.”
—Staff writer Alexander D. Blankfein can be reached at ablankf@fas.harvard.edu.
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