Robinson Focuses on Minorities

Michelle Robinson '01, a resident of Leverett House says she is focusing her Undergraduate Council presidential candidate platform on the needs of minorities.

"Specifically, I would like promote a bigger appreciation of minority communities and their needs and the function that the U.C. and the larger community can play in furthering this awareness," Robinson writes in an e-mail message.

Robinson's perception of injustice and hypocrisy in the Harvard community, as well as outside experience working to improve the condition of minorities, were prime motivating factors in her decision to seek office.

"I am particularly concerned with minority and social issues at

Harvard," she says, "especially because I worked as an intern for [a Washington, D.C. rape crisis center] this past summer, where I really had to work with issues concerning discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and race."

"This has become a big priority in my life," Robinson says.

Of particular concern to Robinson are the "fundamental" inequalities she sees present in the social community at Harvard.

Robinson says that the University's inability to fully address minority needs on campus, especially after the randomization policy was initiated, is particularly hypocritical in the context of what she sees as the University's continued implicit acceptance of finals clubs.

"The University is fully capable of turning a blind eye, that is, implicitly condoning the last vestiges of Old Harvard's social hierarchy," Robinson says.

Specifically, Robinson hopes that "through faculty discourse" the council can work to lower, or at least cap, the cost of materials for courses.

Robinson says she finds it ridiculous that some Core courses have students paying nearly $300.

"Why should students be forced to make these compelling financial decisions semester after semester because certain courses have required materials with prices skyrocketing about of control?" says Robinson.

"Why should anyone have to make a career or even a course selection on the basis of book costs?" she adds.

Robinson's practical ideas for dealing with this disparity include evaluating the need for course packs and getting the Coop to provide a guarantee that it will buy back more expensive textbooks as well.

"I want a guarantee that the University will overhaul this idiotic approach to student inequality and really acknowledgethe needs of minority communities at thisinstitution," Robinson says.

Though her confidence in the council is nothigh, she says, Robinson believes that the recentshift towards student services is effective.

"I am of the mind that investigating the needsof the student population and what is important tothem will inevitably lead to a new type ofactivism, that is, an activism with substantivestudent support and a real social vision," shesays.

Although she is not a member of the council,Robinson believes that she is qualified to be itspresident because of her vision for change.

"I'm an undergraduate, the U.C.'s activitieshave affected me," she says. "I am qualified tolook at it and change it.

Though her confidence in the council is nothigh, she says, Robinson believes that the recentshift towards student services is effective.

"I am of the mind that investigating the needsof the student population and what is important tothem will inevitably lead to a new type ofactivism, that is, an activism with substantivestudent support and a real social vision," shesays.

Although she is not a member of the council,Robinson believes that she is qualified to be itspresident because of her vision for change.

"I'm an undergraduate, the U.C.'s activitieshave affected me," she says. "I am qualified tolook at it and change it.