Thirteen New Student Organizations Approved

Thirteen new student organizations, whose missions range from fostering a vibrant social scene to facilitating emergency medical services, were approved for recognition by the Committee on Student Life last Thursday.

The 13 were among the 30 groups that sought official recognition from the College. Seven applications were deferred, and eight were denied.

Team HYPE of Harvard College will make its debut on campus this fall. The organization’s mission is to enhance the school’s social scene by creating fun and inclusive environments for undergraduates, according to its founder and captain Beau M. Feeny ’13.

“It will serve as a central body to augment social experiences at Harvard,” he said.

The club will provide event and publicity consulting services to other student organizations. Feeny said that Team HYPE will attempt to generate enthusiasm at campus-wide events, such as YardFest and athletic events.

CrimsonEMS, a new student-run ambulance organization, will facilitate a heavily subsidized Emergency Medical Technician-Basic training course at Harvard. It will also connect students interested in working aboard an ambulance with MIT-EMS until the group is able to establish a campus ambulance service.

“We hope to offer real world medical applications in college for all students, and this will be the best way to understand what emergency services is like,” said CrimsonEMS Chair Elliot J. Stein ’13.

Stein said that the benefits of recognition include the club’s ability to advertise to the general student population, apply for UC grants, and have a table at the student activities fair.

Members of The Nostalgics—Harvard’s first and only motown and soul band that has been performing during campus events since its founding in 2010—cited similar reasons for applying for recognition.

Charles G. Gertler ’13, one of three founders of The Nostalgics, said that recognition will give the band access to resources reserved for official student organizations such as grant money, rehearsal space, and the activities fair where he said he hoped to recruit new members.

Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey ’13, another founding member, said they were concerned the band, whose membership is mostly comprised of juniors, might dissolve following the graduation of the Class of 2013. Gertler and Naddaff-Hafrey said that recognition will allow them to institutionalize the group and ensure its future after they leave Harvard next May.

“It lets us perpetuate what the band stands for and what is unique to The Nostalgics rather than what is unique to the founding members,” Naddaff-Hafrey said.

While the OSL administers the College’s recognition process for new organizations, the decision is made by  students on the Undergraduate Council, faculty and administrators.

Each semester, the Office of Student Life reviews proposal packets that have been submitted by students interested in creating a new student organization, according to its website.

There are currently more than 400 recognized student groups on campus, according to Assistant Dean of Harvard College for Student Life David R. Friedrich.

—Staff writer Eliza M. Nguyen can be reached at enguyen@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Jane Seo can ben reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.