Council leaders have backed up their belief in friendly relations through several cooperative ventures this semester.

In January, UC representatives attended a Leadership Intensive Program to learn about the structure of Harvard’s bureaucracy from Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds, Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson, Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris, and others.

With top College leaders on a panel in front of them, representatives asked not about their pet issues for improving student life but about the deans’ tips for leadership.

The Task Force on the Student Voice has taken on a similar focus—not on how to fix grievances but on how to talk about fixing them.

Samuel F. Wohns ’14 criticized the committee for its narrow scope that, in his opinion, prevents the UC from engaging in meaningful projects.

“It is important that the students have a say in student life, but that is not enough,” said Wohns, who is also a Crimson magazine editor.

But Bicknell said that such initiatives do lead to action on student life. By improving the UC’s image among administrators, he argued, the Council has opened up new avenues to addressing student needs. He said that administrators and University departments—including Harvard University Information Technology, Harvard University Dining Services, and the Committee on Undergraduate Education—have approached the UC with proposals for joint projects this semester.

He said that he envisions these collaborative initiatives becoming easier to accomplish in the coming years, if dialogue continues to become warmer between the Council and the College.

“By building a foundation and establishing these relationships, these things might not happen this year,” Bicknell said. “But we can start to make them happen.”

Bicknell’s administration has tried one of the oldest tricks in the book to woo administrators—they take them out to lunch. At the Lunch with a Dean series launched this semester, groups of students have dined five times in College dining halls with adminstrators, according to UC Representative Matthew R. Marotta ’14.

“It’s always great to talk over a meal, because it comes with the realization that the other party is a person too,” Yalamanchi said in March. “This is meant to be an informal, less intimidating way for students to speak to top College administrators and build relationships.”

AN UNEQUAL PARTNERSHIP

Despite the cooperative gestures this semester, critics charge that the relationship is fraught with problems on both sides. Administrators have proven generally unwilling to bend to student demands, some say, while Council leaders have been reluctant to pester them about contentious issues.

LeBoeuf pointed to instances this semester when the Council hesitated to pass legislation that might ruffle administrators’ feathers.

While Bicknell celebrated the UC’s endorsement of the Fair Harvard Fund—an account created by the student activist group Responsible Investment at Harvard to funnel donations into a socially responsible pot—LeBoeuf said that it took many argumentative meetings to secure that endorsement.