More than 50 freshmen showed up for the Undergraduate Council’s first-ever Annenberg debate Sunday night. Many of them came to brain break to eat s’mores and complain about drinking soda out of plastic bowls now that Harvard has stopped providing them cups. Yet they were able to voice these concerns directly to the individuals who are competing for the power to change such inconveniences. When a student voiced his concerns about the changes brought about by Green ’14, the freshman contingency of Harvard’s sustainability initiative, presidential candidate Collin A. Jones ’12 replied, “We don’t know what that is,” to which vice-presidential candidate Peter D. Davis ’12 added, “We don’t know what anything is.”
EXPERIENCES AND INEXPERIENCESThe Jones-Davis campaign had one unmistakably clear message to the freshmen that night. “We know that as freshmen, you probably don’t know anything about the Undergraduate Council,” said Jones. “We also don’t know anything about the Undergraduate Council.” The Jones-Davis ticket brings experience from all around campus. Jones is the media chair of Quincy’s House Committee, the general manager of The Hahvahd Tour, a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship, and a Quincy intramural representative. Davis is part of Harvard Undergraduate Television’s “On Harvard Time,” a member of the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, an “LMAO: A Night of Comedy” performer, and a planner and host of Harvard Thinks Big. Together, Jones-Davis recently won the Delta Gamma trivia bowl 2010, where they beat out a former “Jeopardy” contestant and the captain of the Harvard Quiz Bowl team. The vibrancy of their campaign was on full view during the Annenberg debate.
THE DEBATEThe moderator was current UC Vice President Eric N. Hysen ’11, who asked a series of questions and then allowed freshmen to step up and ask their own. One concern was that freshmen don’t get to know their professors. Jones reassured the freshmen by referring to his relationship with Professor N. Gregory Mankiw, “He calls me Collin, I call him N.” Jones brushed aside the next concern—bad freshman advisors—with equal aplomb, assuring the Class of 2014 that should they be needed, “Pete and I are always available.” In response to the lack of a common social space for freshmen, Davis recommended the lobby in Sever and the freshman mail room. On technology, Jones explained, “I honestly don’t know where Drew Gilpin Faust is right now. But if she had a Twitter account, I would.” When a freshman asked about the role of the vice president, Davis replied, “If Collin Jones is assassinated in office, I am prepared to assume all duties.”Just this weekend, the Jones-Davis campaign experienced a burst in campus recognition when they purchased a frog with their leftover campaign money. They had $20.10 left in their budget to spend, and they polled students to decide how to spend it. The top result was to spend the money on a small animal, and so they bought a Cuban Tree frog. “In Cuba, they just call them frogs,” said Davis. “We could have made posters with our faces on them, or buttons with our names on them, but instead, we chose to make a little girl happy by the donating the frog to her, because that is what the student body wanted to do,” explained Jones.
THE THREE PILLARSThe three pillars of the Jones-Davis campaign are likely already known by those students who have visited their interactive website (www.jonesdavisuc.com) and watched the campaign videos. They are the following: Democracy, Safety, and Bringing Harvard into the 21st Century.“While all the other candidates are talking about student life, Jones-Davis is the only ticket committed to students’ lives and the preservation thereof,” says Luke A. Salisbury ’12, Head of Campaign Security and Personal Training for the Jones-Davis campaign. “Campus safety is one of the pillars of the Jones-Davis campaign, and in light of recent armed muggings in Harvard Yard, their campaign priorities have been vindicated.” Regarding pillar number three, Jones said, “One of our goals is to change the way UC campaigning is done. People don’t read articles, they watch YouTube videos. This is the 21st century.” Hysen himself says, “I think they are a very strong ticket, I think they raise incredibly valid points in their three pillars, and I like that they bought a frog.”
THE BOYSThe candidates speak admiringly of one another. “We’re both brains and brawn and heart and soul,” says Davis. Neither one of them claims to be the sole mastermind of the campaign. “We’re both masters of our own minds,” Jones says. They are both generous as well, and plan to extend power to their rival candidates should they reach office. They assured Senan Ebrahim ’12 of the Ebrahim-Cao ticket that if Jones-Davis is elected, Ebrahim would hold a high position alongside the winners. “Right there, close up to the top,” Jones assured him. “As close to the top as you can get,” agreed Davis. Their unconventional campaign is based on an unyielding devotion to Harvard. Neil T. Curran ’12, the Jones-Davis Executive of Quality Control, says, “If people think he is running a ‘joke’ campaign, I would like to point out that last year, the ‘joke’ candidate did win.” “We care deeply about this campus and the individuals on it,” says Jones. But for these candidates, it’s more than just that. “We’re mainly in this to meet girls.”
