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Elected last April on a platform of building a “united Harvard,” 2024-25 Harvard Undergraduate Association officers said they plan to continue highlighting student advocacy and fostering inclusion at the College as they set goals and pilot initiatives in their final semester.
HUA Co-Presidents Ashley C. Adirika ’26 and Jonathan Haileselassie ’26 wrote in a Thursday statement that their priorities for the spring include “Being responsive to student needs,” ensuring the HUA Election Commission’s execution of spring elections and referenda runs “smoothly,” and “Institutionalizing Memory” for their successors.
Adirika and Haileselassie also pointed to “Further Advancing our Student Advocacy priorities, including student representation on the Adboard” as a goal for the semester. The HUA introduced its effort for undergraduate representation on the College’s primary disciplinary body at a Sunday meeting.
Officers leading the HUA’s various teams — including the Academic Team and Residential Life Team — also said they hope to amplify undergraduate ideas to the administration.
When asked what the Academic Team hopes to accomplish this semester, Matthew R. Tobin ’27 responded, “advocacy, advocacy, advocacy.”
“I want to continue pushing certain key issues that students have been talking about for, in some cases, literally decades, and reminding the administration that these issues aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
Tobin also discussed the Academic Team’s efforts to increase student representation on the Administrative Board.
“The Ad Board had somewhat of a legitimacy crisis, so looking into ways that students could be involved in a variety of roles — seeing if perhaps they could be members, if they could perhaps serve in an advisory role, if they could perhaps serve as a resource for the other students — as a way of them choosing to work with other students if they want” Tobin said.
Tobin also pointed to topics like the addition of an Ethnic Studies concentration, double secondary concentrations, and concurrent master’s degrees for students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree as further points for potential Academic Team advocacy.
“If you get a Bachelor of Arts, you can get a concurrent master’s, but if you get a Bachelor of Science, you can’t, which is odd to me, and it’s odd to a lot of students,” Tobin said.
The Academic Team also plans to continue hosting award ceremonies for teaching and advising awards, which will be given to pre-concentration advisors, concentration advisors, and teachers based on student nominations.
Inclusion Officer Lily Liu ’25 noted how shifts in the “political climate” beyond campus are also changing the HUA’s approach to inclusivity efforts for students.
“It’s certainly affected what we might put funding toward,” she said. “Mostly, it’s just providing additional support for students especially who have identities that are currently being more marginalized, like students who are queer, or if they’re from an international or immigrant background.”
Sophia F. He ’27, the HUA’s Residential Life Officer, also spoke of her team’s plans to push for changes for which they have heard student support through emails, meetings, and word of mouth.
He said she has made recommendations to the Dean of Students Office — including a “better app that shows when certain shuttles are not available” to academic buildings and upperclassmen Houses.
“Currently, sometimes students are waiting for these shuttles, and the shuttles on the app say that they’re coming and they’re in service, but when they arrive, they show that they’re not in service,” she said.
When it comes to advocacy for changes in Harvard University Dining Services — like the addition of hot breakfast in at least one dining hall in the Radcliffe Quadrangle — she said the dynamic is similar.
“We’re all aware of what everyone’s asking for, like the longer dining hours, hot breakfast in the quad — everybody is super on board with that,” He said, adding that she is “not part of any discussions that they ultimately have” to make final decisions.
—Staff writer Nina A. Ejindu can be reached at nina.ejindu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @nina_ejindu.
—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at claire.simon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.