Before last year, if you had a gripe about a College policy, chances were that you would carry it around your entire Harvard career, talking about it, losing sleep about it, and eventually graduating without having done anything about it. Now, there appears to be a better way. If you'd like, you can aspire to become an influential member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council, about to begin its second year as the first-ever fully recognized and budgeted student government in Harvard's long history.

Full recognition for the 89-seat council translates into direct links to three major student-faculty committees, the Committees on College Life, Housing, and Undergraduate Education. While the five council delegates to each of these bodies play only an advisory role, the top College administrators who sit on the committees expected unusual enthusiasm about the set up, and several significant student victories last year reflect well on the new system's potential.

Budgeted means the ability to provide all-new financial support