CORRECTIONS APPENDED

In declaring endorsements for this year’s Undergraduate Council (UC) presidential election, the major political organizations have crossed partisan divides. The Harvard College Democrats chose to back Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, a former member of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC), while the HRC itself endorsed Democrat Roy T. Willey IV ’09 over active HRC member Frances I. Martel ’09.

After a town hall-style meeting on Thursday night with Sundquist and vice-presidential running mate Randall S. Sarafa ’09, as well as Willey and his running mate Nicholas B. Snow ’09, the Dems voted to endorse the Sundquist-Sarafa ticket.

Martel scheduled a meeting for Friday afternoon because of a conflict on Thursday night but did not attend the rescheduled meeting. She told The Crimson that she was campaigning and missed the meeting.

Sundquist and Sarafa spoke first at the Dems meeting, emphasizing issues of student-group funding.

Sundquist pointed to his ticket’s experience on the UC, saying it provided valuable insight into how to work effective with the administration.

Willey and Snow discussed the need to convince people to care about the UC.

“We need to be able to reach out and touch more people on campus,” Snow said. “We need to reach out to athletes, kids in fraternities, final clubs.”

In response to a question about the UC’s role in increasing racial, cultural, and social diversity, Willey said, “That is not an area where the UC, in my view, should dabble.”

“We have a lot of work to do—we have to get the party grant back, we have to fund student groups,” he added.

Sundquist responded to the same question by saying, “The UC itself can try to diversify more.” He also said the number of women on the UC doubled this year.

“Overwhelmingly the membership felt that Matt and Randall were the best candidates for the job,” said Indira Phukan ’09, vice president of the Dems and a UC representative for Cabot House.

“It’s not even close in terms of the depth of experience that they bring to the table,” Dems President Jarret A. Zafran ’09 said, adding that Sundquist-Sarafa’s priorities align with the Dems on issues such as the reform of the Administrative Board.

Sundquist was an active member of the HRC during his freshman year, HRC president Caleb L. Weatherl ’10 told The Crimson. That fact was only briefly discussed at the Dems endorsement meeting. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

“I think that he advocates for what the students believe and what the students want irrespective of what his own beliefs are,” Phukan said.

The HRC sent a questionnaire to the candidates and then gathered them for a meeting with the club’s executive board, which voted unanimously to endorse Willey-Snow.

“We endorsed Roy and Nick because we believe that they are the best candidates in the race,” Weatherl said. “They stand for issues that are important to the student body as a whole but also are important to Republicans.”

Listing concerns shared by the Willey-Snow ticket and the HRC, Weatherl cited prioritizing the interests of students in the ROTC program and meetings with student groups at the beginning of the semester to plan budgets.

Former HRC President Jeffrey Kwong ‘09, who is also on the campaign staff for Sundquist-Sarafa, called HRC’s decision to endorse Willey over Sundquist or Martel “a slap in the face to Frances.”

“It’s a disappointment that campus conservatives are...endorsing a candidate that has absolutely no experience and is an avowed Democrat,” Kwong said. “It will be the seventh time in a row that we have endorsed a losing candidate.”

The Alaska Klub has also endorsed a candidate. The group bases its endorsements on a candidate’s willingness to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge, an annual swim in the Charles River after the first snow or frost, said co-president Robert J. Gage ’10.

“It shows the candidates are willing to have a little fun and are not just big jerks,” Gage said. “We decided that Sundquist was our man conditional on doing the Polar Bear Plunge.”

This year’s Plunge will take place the morning of Saturday, Dec. 8. Last year current UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 and Sundquist, his running mate, were the only candidates who agreed to dive in if they won, and they followed through on their promise.

—Alissa M. D’Gama contributed to the reporting of this story.

CORRECTIONS

Due to incorrect information provided by the Willey-Snow campaign, a glance box next to the article "Campus Groups Endorse" in the Dec. 4 print edition of The Crimson incorrectly stated that Roy T. Willey IV '09's campaign has been endorsed by Harvard Greek Life. In fact, no such student group exists, and many Greek organizations at Harvard have not endorsed the Willey-Snow campaign.

The article also incorrectly stated that Undergraduate Council presidential candidate Matthew L. Sundquist '09 was an active member of the Harvard Republican Club during his freshman year. In fact, Sundquist said he only attended one meeting of the club, although Republican Club documents show that he once paid dues to the organization.