Now that the midterm elections are over, Harvard students can finally turn their attention away from meaningless issues like abortion and the war in Iraq to the race that really matters.
The UC’s presidential season will kick off officially later this month when candidates submit their declarations of intent. Even this early, there are a bevy of students with potential aspirations to lead the council. According to UC members who have spoken to candidates about their intentions and some potential candidates themselves, this year’s election will have at least three tickets, with the potential of at least four more.
Although each pairing comes from within the UC, the candidates’ different experiences within and outside of the council means that some are likely to advance change via the UC’s traditional framework, while others are more likely to suggest newer, unorthodox methods.
TRACK RECORDS
Although candidates may wait to formally announce their intentions until the deadline, the predicted names are familiar within the UC and, in many cases, to the campus at large. Unlike last year’s election, which included Magnus Grimeland ’07 and Tom D. Hadfield ’08, relative newcomers to the UC at the time, this year’s predicted slate is comprised entirely of past and present UC members. Five even served as representatives during their freshman fall.
Although some may ultimately not run and more candidates may pop up, this year’s predicted candidates boast long-standing familiarity with the UC and a track record of working with University Hall administrators. Because of the abundance of information available about candidates’ political pasts, UC treasurer Benjamin W. Milder ’08 says campaigns this year are likely to center around “competing visions and records rather than [candidates’] opinions on one particular issue.”
AN EARLY SURPRISE
Conspicuously missing from the roster is Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, vice chair for undergraduate education for the Student Affairs Committee (SAC). Greenfield, who was widely considered to be a candidate for UC president or vice president since his freshman year, told The Crimson he will not run for either position.
“I definitely plan on staying involved in SAC,” he says. “The real question for me was if I wanted to step up my involvement in the UC by running for V.P. or president.”
Ultimately, Greenfield says he would rather have the “flexibility for advocacy” on SAC than the added responsibilities of being a UC executive. He also said that he would like “to continue to focus at least a little bit on my life outside of the UC.”
MATCHMAKING
Widely considered to be the frontrunner long before the academic year started, Ryan A. Petersen ’08 has served as SAC chair since February. Chairmanship of SAC has in the past been considered a stepping stone to the presidency, though this was not the case last year. In December 2005, committee chair and vice-presidential candidate Tara Gadgil ’07 finished in third place with running mate John F. Voith III ’07. Current president, John S. Haddock ’07, the winner of the election, was a SAC vice chair.
Petersen, whose shaggy hair makes him noticeable around campus, would not say if he planned to run for any office.
“Right now I’m focusing on my responsibilities and priorities on the Student Advisory Committee,” he says. “Over the next few weeks, I’m going to think about whether I’d like to take on further responsibilities and whether that will be best for the UC and for the campus.”
Petersen’s involvement with the Council has been broad, encompassing work on the curricular review to the development of the Lamont Library Café.
Despite Petersen’s close-lippedness, the UC members say Petersen has chosen Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 as his running mate. Sundquist, a popular sophomore with an easy-going personality, has been substantially involved in the UC even as a freshman representative. He was a co-sponsor, along with council member Ricky B. Shah ’09, of the bill to bring condoms to freshman dormitories, and he worked along with representative Randall S. Sarafa ’09 to gain keycard access for upperclassmen in the Yard.
It can be politically risky for a junior presidential candidate to run with a sophomore, Greenfield says, because doing so can lead other sophomores with latent presidential aspirations to deny their support for a potential future competitor.
The last time a sophomore was elected vice president was in 2001, according to the UC’s Web site. Sujean Lee ’03 was elected the council’s president the following year.
Greenfield likened picking a running mate to finding a spouse: Some are matches of “love,” while others are of “convenience.” The first are often riskier pairings—such as a junior choosing a sophomore—and are based on friendship and a shared commitment to common goals. Those based on convenience are “driven by political expediency,” Greenfield says.
IN, BUT NOT ENTRENCHED
Last year, then-sophomore Hadfield’s vice presidential bid finished second after a campaign focused more on vision and personality than on a voting record. His ticket proposed an endowment fund that could subsidize student groups.
The UC members said that Hadfield will run this year with Adam Goldenberg ’08. Both are active Crimson editors on the editorial board. Hadfield contributes information to the Crimson’s online calendar, and Goldenberg currently writes the biweekly column “Sardonic Verses” and co-authors the Crimson blog “Gadfly.”
Hadfield, a 24-year-old Brit, sold a soccer Web site he created as a teenager to ESPN in 1999 for 25 million British pounds. And Vancouver native Goldenberg, elected this semester to the UC, serves as vice chair of the College Events Board and is a member of the Student Advisory Board.
Given that not all undergraduates are aware of internal UC politics, a ticket with significant outside experience may be just as appealing as that of UC insiders.
Last year, the election was “really was a ‘do or die’ moment” for the council, Greenfield says, due to campus frustration over the UC’s handling of social programming. But because Haddock and Vice President Annie R. Riley ’07 successfully created the independently-funded College Events Board and downsized the council from three to two committees, candidates this year will probably try to “capitalize” off of the accomplishments of Haddock and Riley’s term rather than call for an overhaul of the Council, according to Greenfield.
A CROWDED SLATE
Though the Petersen-Sundquist and Hadfield-Goldenberg pairings have come to the forefront most quickly, other candidates are also in a position to pursue the top posts.
Finance Committee (FiCom) Chair and Dunster resident Lori M. Adelman ’08 says that she is “giving serious consideration to a run for UC president.”
Adelman’s term as FiCom chair has been productive, notably in May when FiCom moved to grant student groups upfront funding and the direct deposit of funds. This change came about as a result of a survey Adelman administered with then-FiCom Vice Chair Sarafa to student groups last spring. The changes became effective this fall.
Edward Y. Lee ’08, a council member, says that he is planning a run, though he would not specify his running mate or for what position he would specifically seek, though the UC sources say that he will form a ticket with Ali A. Zaidi ’08. Lee is the current FiCom vice chair and served as the committee’s secretary last semester.
Zaidi was visibly involved in getting a month delay before the Malkin Athletic Center closes for renovations beginning this spring, and he has also spoken out on the Curricular Review, particularly to keep the Core Curriculum’s moral reasoning requirement as part of the proposed General Education curriculum.
“For the most part, I’m fairly certain that I will seek candidacy in the UC election,” Zaidi says.
Sopen B. Shah ’08, who said that she will decide on whether she will run or not over next few days, served as chair of the Campus Life Committee (CLC) before the committee was replaced by the creation of the College Events Board. Shah, from Appleton, Wis., is now a member of the College Events Board.
Amadi P. Anene ’08 is another UC junior to keep an eye on. A Kuumba a capella singer, Anene served as SAC vice chair for College life last semester, and he has been active in the effort to get textbook stipends for low-income students. He said that he is “definitely thinking” about a run for president.
INSIDE OUT
Throughout this yearly ritual, only one thing will remain certain: All bets will be off.
Take Tim R. Hwang ’08, who said he will seek the signatures needed to run “as a completely outsider candidate” for UC president. Hwang said he planned to run under a “dismantle the UC” campaign that would make House Committee members the UC’s representatives.
This year’s frontrunners have worked with each other significantly longer than last year’s candidates, and the dynamics of campaigning against long-time colleagues are still cloudy. Petersen, Adelman, Lee, Shah, and Anene were all Yard representatives in 2004, along with Greenfield.
But the ultimate question is how well they know their community—it is the 6,600 members of the student body, not the 35-member council, who will determine the winner.
And so this winter, as Harvard students go inside, the victor might be the one who heads outside, seeking the campus’s vote.
