UC Strays from UN, Changes Gender Campaign Name

A gender equity campaign spearheaded by the Undergraduate Council and inspired by a United Nations campaign, underwent a name change earlier last week. It is now called "Side by Side," deviating from the UN’s campaign name HeForShe.

Undergraduate Council President Ava Nasrollahzadeh '16 and Vice President Dhruv P. Goyal '16 speak about a gender equity campaign, then called Harvard HeForShe, at the first UC meeting of the year on Feb. 1. By George J Lok

According to campaign project manager and Mather House representative Michelle S. Lee ’16, the change to the campaign occurred mainly because students and administrators felt that “HeForShe” implied that gender is a binary, an idea from which the campaign seeks to stray, she said. Lee, an inactive Crimson news editor, said the UC consulted various administrators such as Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana and College Director of BGLTQ Student Life Van Bailey, who supported the name change.

“It’s critical that we include all genders in the conversation for creating an inclusive campus environment,” Bailey said.

Lee told UC representatives at the Council’s general meeting on Sunday that other than the name change, plans for the campaign would continue as previously planned. The UC has reached out to student group leaders via email about the campaign.

“[We] desire to create something that we as a Harvard campus could take ownership of and that everyone could feel like they were part of,” Lee said. “The name HeforShe just didn't quite fulfill that mission.”

The UC is hosting a campaign launch event on March 2, which will feature former CEO of Planned Parenthood Gloria Feldt and former Miss America 2014 pageant winner Nina Davuluri.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalincunningham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.