Lee Hands Over Council Reins

Room 113 in Sever Hall saw an uncommonly well-dressed collection of students last night, as Undergraduate Council members turned out to bid farewell to their 2002 leaders.

Outgoing council President Sujean S. Lee ’03 and Vice President Anne M. Fernandez ’03 presided over their last council meeting, for which council members traditionally come to Sever in formal attire. Lee and Fernandez thanked friends, family and the rest of the council, as they reviewed their terms in office and shared some wisdom with their colleagues.

“I feel utter relief that, seven semesters on the UC later, I stand before you still filled with that same enthusiasm and faith I felt for the Undergraduate Council even before I was elected,” Lee said to an audience that included her parents and brother, who traveled from New York to attend the meeting.

Lee emphasized the council’s pursuit of “bigger and bolder accomplishments” under her tenure. She listed many of the council’s initiatives during the past year, including reduction of Core requirements, extension of Universal Keycard Access hours, establishment of the council’s First-Year Social Committee and “the most successful Springfest to date.”

Lee expressed gratitude to many council members for their work, saving her last thanks for incoming council President Rohit Chopra ’04.

“You are a gifted leader,” she told Chopra. “Never before have I met anyone with as much political savvy.”

Fernandez also praised Chopra.

“Rohit knows more about this school than any other current or former student,” she told the council.

Both Lee and Fernandez alluded to being the first all-female administration since the council switched to popular elections seven years ago.

“Girl power is what we have proven,” Lee said.

The outgoing president concluded her speech by saying the council should remain easygoing.

“The UC can be intensely political and divisive, as we have seen several times this semester,” she said, presumably referring to last month’s presidential elections and a number of heated council debates. “Keep laughing.”

Fernandez’s emotional speech concluded tearfully as she thanked her friends and parents, who had made the trip from Florida. She also commented on how she has learned from some of the less pleasant aspects of being at the helm.

“Sujean and I have received fair and unfair criticism,” she said. “Still, there’s so much to learn from criticism.”

But when people “blend your person and your work” in their comments, Fernandez said, then criticism ceases to be constructive.

Fernandez closed her speech with afinal piece of advice: “Although serving on this council is not glamorous, it is absolutely fulfilling, so serve with integrity and pride.”

Both speeches were met with standing ovations.

Chopra, in his final report to the council as chair of the Student Affairs Committee, told the council that he’s “really liked this job for the past three semesters.”

“The best is yet to come,” he said at the end of the report, repeating the slogan Lee and Fernandez used in their campaign more than a year ago.

After the meeting, Lee and Fernandez’s parents treated a jovial council to a dinner from Bertucci’s in Sever Hall.

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.