Undergraduate Circus

Correction Appended

Just last night, at an Undergraduate Council General Meeting, the council voted to certify the contested results from last Thursday’s election, thus declaring John F. Bowman ’11 and Eric N. Hysen ’11 the future president and vice president of the UC, respectively. Finally, after three full days of voting investigation, Harvard’s student government has an officially elected successor. George J.J. Hayward ’11, a Crimson editorial writer, and Felix M. Zhang ’11 gracefully delivered concession speeches, heralding the beginning of a new chapter in UC leadership.

While we are relieved to know the names of our student leaders after a bizarre delay in election procedure, there is much about the events of the past week that raise concerns. Specifically, the Election Commission has demonstrated gross negligence and incompetence throughout this entire process. Despite the interconnectedness of these events, it is important to distinguish the actions of the Election Commission from those of the UC itself. In other words, the blame for this embarrassment lies with the EC, not necessarily with the UC as a whole.

When members of the EC suspected that the election results may have been tampered with—and subsequently decided to decertify those results—this was in keeping with a desire to ensure the election results were as fair as possible, and we agree with that decision. That said, however, EC officials should have been absolutely certain from the beginning as to which individuals had access to the results via the voting interface. Moreover, these questions should not have arisen at the last minute, although we recognize that Brad A. Seiler ’10, the former EC chair who resigned early Friday morning, had previously investigated these loopholes.

Worse than this unnecessary uncertainty on election night, however, was the gross lack of judgment the EC exercised in releasing confidential information to Kia J. McLeod ’10, current UC vice president and known supporter of the Hayward-Zhang campaign, among others. Why, for example, did members of the council know the vote tallies before the EC released them?

Ideally, the EC would have subsequently decided to certify the contested results after hearing testimony from FAS IT officials, who could have verified whether any foul play had occurred. But under the given circumstances, in which the EC’s credibility had been destroyed and its membership largely disbanded, no such reconciliation was possible. Thankfully, UC leadership pushed for the next best option—having the full Council hear FAS IT testimony and certify the election results in last night’s meeting. This was the only way the organization could have preserved any legitimacy in the eyes of its constituency. As a re-vote was impossible with one ticket (Bowman-Hysen) having been unfairly slandered, last night’s certification was the best possible decision the UC could have made.

On the note of the slandered campaign, all evidence suggests that Kia McLeod grossly neglected her duties on Thursday night by using the UC president’s email address without the consent of the UC president herself, Andrea R. Flores ’10. Moreover, that she and other former UC officials used that email account to assault Hysen’s character without justification was an egregious display of misconduct, not only because it constituted a personal attack, but also because it effectively made a fair re-vote impossible. For those reasons, the UC should vote to impeach McLeod and send the message that these actions were utterly intolerable.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy, however, is the toll that this year’s election has taken on the UC’s image, already significantly diminished by other recent ventures such as last semester’s consideration of 45 Mount Auburn Street as a viable solution to the social space problem. We recognize that neither the UC nor its representatives directly caused the chaos surrounding this year’s election and that blame largely lies with the Election Commission. Moreover, the UC as a whole should be separated from the e-mail signed by McLeod. Yet in the end these missteps on the part of individuals tarnish the reputation of the organization that they represent, and unfortunately the UC will have its work cut out going forward to regain the trust of students.

In the eyes of many, the damage has been done, and the UC has lost all the credibility it has worked so hard to cultivate over the past year. Harvard undergraduates deserve an organization with the ability to impact positive and lasting improvements to student life. What makes this controversy so particularly poignant is that it will undoubtedly jeopardize the UC’s ability to be that organization in the future.

CORRECTION: In the November 24th editorial "Undergraduate Circus," The Crimson Staff called on the Undergraduate Council to impeach UC Vice President Kia J. McLeod '10. However, "recall" is the official UC term for the procedure that the staff intended to endorse. The Crimson regrets the error.