Not much can be said of U.S. President William Henry Harrison, except that he died thirty days into his term from a cold and penned the phenomenally catchy “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” paving the way for the exploitative forces of rhyme and alliteration in campaign slogans. His wittiness outlived him, and so let this be a lesson to the UC hopefuls: in campaigns, slogans are tantamount to success. Save the platform, give me rhymes!
Thomas D. Hadfield ’08 seems to agree, which is why he and S. Adam Goldenberg ’08, both Crimson editors, make a wonderful duo. “A British guy and an 8-foot Jew, what can the UC do for you?” shouts their campaign squad outside the Science Center. According to Hadfield, in elections the “campaign tactics are most important.”
Ali A. Zaidi ’08 and Edward Y. Lee ’08 have taken a more theoretical approach to their campaign. “We’ve tried to resist the slogan based culture,” says Zaidi, citing their slogan “I am Harvard’s Promise” as more of a maxim than a self-endorsement. In reference to the organization America’s Promise, where Zaidi works alongside the likes of Tim Russert and Michael Jordan, Zaidi-Lee hope to recapture Harvard’s lost potential, or as their flyer reads, “Reclaim the Promise.”
Ryan A. Petersen ’08 and Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 have taken a no-nonsense approach. Their slogan, “It’s about students, It’s about time,” urges their supporters to forget about the UC and all its bureaucracy, focusing instead on effecting change. In blatant opposition to the Hadfield-Goldenberg campaigners, their supporters chant “we’re not talking about the UC, we’re talking about real change.”
Most infamously thus far, the Tim R. Hwang ’08 and Alexander S. Wong ’08 ticket purport the slogan “Kill the UC, Kill them Dead” in a “radical reformist” vein, Hwang says.
The other notables are Gillis-Wimberley’s “Join the Fight” and Anene-de Beausett’s “Harvard Redefined.”
With any luck, the new UC president will help make Harvard a better place for us all, and if not, at least be outlived by the spectacle that is the Undergraduate Council presidential race.
