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The Harvard Undergraduate Association had its last general assembly meeting of the term on Sunday as its new co-presidents, Abdullah Shahid Sial ’27 and Caleb N. Thompson ’27, prepare to take office.
The meeting was characterized by reflections on each team’s accomplishments over the past school year. Former co-presidents Jonathan Haileselassie ’26 and Ashley C. Adirika ’26 said they had met their campaign promise to create a “United Harvard.”
“Me and Ashley really wanted to legitimize the HUA. And that was through this thing we call the ‘United Harvard,’” Haileselassie said. “That led to the largest HUA membership we’ve seen during our term here and throughout the HUA’s existence.”
The co-presidents also discussed the formation of the First-Year Team, their newly established HUA cabinet, the airport shuttle system for Winter Break travelers, and their push for student representation on the Harvard College Administrative Board.
The financial team touted allocating 85 percent of the HUA budget to club funding, the largest in the HUA’s three-year history. According to the end-of-term financial report presented at the meeting, the organization has 11 percent of its total $541,171 budget remaining. Some of the remainder will support senior class events, and the rest will roll into the next year.
The Academic team celebrated keeping the option to Pass-Fail General Education Requirement classes for current students after the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to phase out the pass-fail option starting with the Class of 2029. In a particularly eventful year for activism, the group also advocated for reforms to the mental health leave of absence policies and joined a faculty movement against employment time caps.
Academic Team officer Matthew R. Tobin ’27 said the team plans to distribute exam season care packages to students on Monday.
“Thank you guys so much to my fellow officers and the Cabinet members and especially the co-presidents for helping the academic team really grow this year,” Tobin said.
Beyond reviewing their achievements, the HUA also voted to allocate $10,000 from their remaining budget to fund two senior class events — the Senior Gala and the Senior Altitude Trampoline Park outing.
While Sial and Thompson did not attend their predecessors’ final meeting, Haileselassie and Adirika said they were grateful for members’ dedication to the HUA during the term.
“I’ve learned advocacy is hard, trying to bring change is hard, but I think when we’re together, when we’re united, we can do a lot,” Haileselassie said. “We all sort of buy into a vision of what we can be, what can be better for us, what we can build together.”
“I’m so excited to pass the torch on to everyone who will come next,” Adirika added. “I know you guys will do great things, and we’ll be here every second.”
—Staff writer Nina A. Ejindu can be reached at nina.ejindu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @nina_ejindu.
