A PLATFORM WITH PERSONALITY
Ebrahim and Cao have plans to reinvigorate social life at Harvard, which they say will engender an equally engaging environment for freshmen and upperclassmen alike.
One of their principle goals is to recreate Freshmen Week (also known as “Camp Harvard”) for all students at the beginning of the school year—a period that they would call “Welcome Week.”
According to Cao and Ebrahim, the extra time would help upperclassmen meet their new housemates and give students a chance to hang out with their friends before the chaos of shopping week. As it stands, they say, students are just “thrown back into classes.”
Cao and Ebrahim say they also intend to continue the UC’s encouragement of technological innovation on campus—a project the Council has engaged in through “Hack Harvard,” a program that allows five undergraduates to further develop their CS50 projects over January Term.
The ticket presented several ideas for new smartphone applications includeing “Get Out Harvard,” which matches students of similar interests and suggests events for them to attend in Boston, and a conglomerate of applications entitled “The Boys,” which includes a modified Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Services application, a party finder application, and an improved shuttle application.
Ebrahim and Cao say they hope these online tools will improve social life on campus and foster friendships between students with similar passions.
And while their platform may seem daunting, Ebrahim and Cao say they will be able to accomplish everything they have proposed.
“We would never promise anything in our platform if it weren’t something we were actually intending to deliver on,” Ebrahim says.
The pair is not waiting to be elected before putting their policies into action. The proposed Forum for Change, an idea that Ebrahim had at the beginning of the summer, is meant to be a meeting ground for faculty, House Masters, and students, allowing undergraduates to “make their case directly to the University’s decision-makers.” The duo have already spoken to Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson and Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds, and Ebrahim says that the administration’s response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
The pair say that their complementary personalities will help them continue working on their proposed initiatives if they are elected.
“We work really well together. That’s the thing—when you’re P and VP you have to spend so much time together,” says Ebrahim. “Every president I talked to told me to pick someone you like spending time with, because otherwise you’re going to be miserable 25 hours a week.”
When asked what Cao thinks of her partner-in-politics, she calls him “the biggest cheese ball ever.”
“He’s one of those people that will make a joke and he’ll be the only laughing,” she says.
Ebrahim says that his favorite thing about Cao is “her smile.” He jokingly claims that it is impossible for her to keep a straight face.