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The Harvard Undergraduate Association gathered Sunday evening for its first general assembly meeting under the new administration led by Co-Presidents Abdullah Shahid Sial ’27 and Caleb N. Thompson ’27.
The meeting, which was held in the Smith Campus Center’s Mount Auburn Room, was attended by roughly 45 people, including 10 members of the HUA’s leadership team. Attendees ate complimentary Pinocchio’s pizza during the half-hour meeting, which outlined the HUA’s function and ambitions for the semester. Thompson was absent from the meeting.
Sial also highlighted his administration’s short-term “vision and goals,” which include an expansion of the student organization funding pool through donations from alumni, smoother applications to receive club funding, and looking into alternatives for Harvard’s shuttle tracking app, “Passio GO!”.
“I know all of us hate Passio GO! — I hate Passio GO!,” Sial said.
Sial noted that he “can’t promise” if the HUA will be able to replace the app because of its ongoing contract with the University, but said he hopes to find a pathway for a student-created replacement.
“The idea is ultimately going to have a competition,” he said. “A competition where our own students actually get a chance to build an alternative for Passio Go! and the best one gets a small prize, and we can end up using it.”
During Sunday’s meeting, Sial painted the organization’s aims in broad strokes.
“Just the way you had student government back in your high schools, HUA is exactly the same,” Sial said, describing the association’s main goals as advocacy, assisting in creating and financially supporting student organizations, and gauging student opinion.
The meeting continued with a description of each of the eight HUA teams and a presentation from corresponding officers about their plans for the year. The Sports Officer position, intended to liaise with the Department of Athletics and advocate for student athletes, is currently vacant after no one ran for the seat during the body’s April elections. A special election will be held this fall to fill the role, according to Sial.
After the meeting, Sial said he was pleased with the number of students in attendance, crediting the HUA’s inaugural summer orientation program, an opportunity students had to learn more about the HUA and opportunities to get involved ahead of the school year.
“I’m really happy that so many people showed up. I think a good part of it had to do with how many people we ended up getting to our summer program,” Sial said in an interview after the meeting. “That was one way for us to make sure that first years coming have a good idea that there is a Student Government at Harvard.”
—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.
