Band of International Brothers Stages Coup

This spring, W. Hugo Van Vuuren ’07 wanted change, so he called together a “band of brothers.” Their target? Hegemony.

It was the night before officer elections of the Woodbridge Society for international students. Van Vuuren, the current treasurer, planned to run, but he needed some support.

“There are 600 international students [at Harvard],” Van Vuuren explains. “But [Woodbridge] had 100 active members. Where were the rest?”

He had a hunch who was to blame. “Me and the social chair were the only ones who weren’t Eastern European,” he says. As he saw it, students from places like Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria had turned Woodbridge into a cultural society all their own.

Indeed, a year ago, students from Eastern Europe dominated the governing board of Woodbridge. With no other large cultural organizations to defect to, these students embraced the umbrella society—sometimes to the discomfort of other members.

“The Eastern Europeans are very loud,” says Polish and Ghanaian Sam Palmer-Amaning ’05, a former president of the society. “Imagine coming to an event and seeing the whole Romanian crowd cheering and dancing, all speaking in the same language and singing the same songs. Someone may think that he’s come to a cultural party instead of a Woodbridge event.”

This year, the South African Van Vuuren’s coalition hoped to create a more open community by challenging the community’s most outspoken members to keep the society for international students truly international. They planned to do this at the club’s spring elections.

CULTURAL REPRESENTATION

Despite the tensions obvious to all members, many doubted whether proportional representation was necessary, or even desirable. Woodbridge was meant to create a community for international students—a goal it accomplished.

“The society has come pretty far from when it was first established 10 years ago,” says Kuanysh Y. Batyrbekov ’07, a member of last year’s board. “I didn’t like the distinction being made during election that ‘we’re international, they are Eastern Europeans.’”

And often Woodbridge was left with Eastern European members not because others were shut out, but because they chose not to participate. Although Woodbridge provides international freshmen their first introduction to Harvard, within one or two years many students become closer to their respective ethnic organizations. Fuerza Latina, Harvard African Students Association, and the South Asian Association steadily pull active membership away from Woodbridge.

Although Polish, Bulgarian, and Romanian societies exist, Eastern Europeans lack a united organization.

“The smaller societies are functional, but they don’t have the appeal of the big organization,” says Ivona Josipovic ’06, who directed the club’s International Awareness Committee last year. “For Eastern Europeans, Woodbridge is still the primary organization.”

“Like with this year’s parties and movie events,” adds Yinliang He ’08, head of Woodbridge’s fundraising and alumni affairs. “We had fewer and fewer people coming while the percentage of Eastern Europeans who came rose.”

The active Eastern European presence carried over to the composition of the executive board. Of this past year’s board members, six out of nine were of Eastern European descent. Some believe that the homogeneous makeup of the board had an effect on the society as a whole—for instance, the music selection at parties was mostly Eastern European.

“It was mainly one group of people that was in charge of everything, and that took the international aspect out of it,” says Cina J. Nattenmueller ’08.

ELECTIONS

Meanwhile, as tensions about representation mounted on the group’s perimters, internal disputes plagued the executive board. The social chair—a non-Eastern European student—left mid-year, and members complained about weak leadership and communication problems. Some also criticized the organization’s lack of involvement in the Tsunami relief efforts, accusing the board of organizing mediocre events that generated low enthusiasm and attendance.

“This year’s board did a poor job. I didn’t get to know anyone this year,” says Slobodan Radoman ’07. “I felt ashamed that Woodbridge did so little.”

Thus frustrated, many members focused their hopes on the spring elections.

Inspired by the Undergraduate Council election system, Josipovic gathered a group of members, more than half of whom were Eastern European, to run on a joint ticket, a method unprecedented in Woodbridge’s history.

Until the day before candidate statements were due, it looked like Josipovic’s coalition would run unopposed, save one single independent candidate. The Eastern Europeans would maintain their control, and, some worried, history would repeat itself.

That was when Van Vuuren stepped in. Upon learning Josipovic’s ticket was uncontested, he felt compelled to gather a group of his own. “I was in the Quad when I found out who was running for the board and I just started making phone calls,” Van Vuuren says.

After convincing two members of Josipovic’s coalition to join his camp, Van Vuuren created his own ticket, self-titled the “Coalition for a Truly International Society.” The group consisted of members from Lithuania, Poland, China, Greece, the Phillipines, South Africa, and Norway.

The team gathered in one of Cabot Library’s cubicles three hours before statements were due to discuss their goals and plans. “We saw ourselves as this group, this little band of brothers who all had high hopes to save Woodbridge,” Van Vuuren says.

With only a few days left before the election, Van Vuuren’s coalition campaigned hard. The group swept all positions save for one.

FUTURE

Although Van Vuuren’s board boasts cultural diversity, some Woodbridge members are not sure the board’s diversity will strengthen the society.

“I do not think there should be any quotas or jurisdiction. The board from 2002 to 2003 was very diverse and the board of 2003 to 2004 was very Eastern European, and they’ve both done well,” Josipovic says. “It only depends on how dedicated you are. Any restrictions on the type of people on the board are unacceptable.”

But Van Vuuren’s new board is sure its ethnic heterogeneity will bring more to the organization. “Having connections to other cultural groups will really help us bring a lot of students closer. If all the board members are from the same region, you are simply less likely to connect with as many members,” Rebecca R. Gong ’08 says.

For Van Vuuren himself, this mixed representation is absolutely crucial. “The Senate can’t run with only representatives from northern states,” Van Vuuren says. “I feel that the international society has to have representation from more than one or two continents.”

Whether that representation will lead to a stronger organization remains to be seen.