Harvard Undergraduate Association Launches AI Survey, Talks Upcoming Elections

The Harvard Undergraduate Association passed proposals ranging from surveying undergraduates on artificial intelligence to funding a Queer Students Association prom on Monday evening at its second meeting back from spring break.

In a Q&A session after the meeting, outgoing HUA leadership fielded questions and encouraged potential candidates to run for office.

HUA Co-President Shikoh M. Hirabayashi ’24 introduced an HUA executive team project to publish a data-driven report on “how students use and think about generative AI” like ChatGPT.

“There has not been any report from the student side that has been published on generative AI use among college students — questions ranging from how many of the students use ChatGPT to what the students think about AI and how that impacts career choices,” Hirabayashi said.

“No other school in the nation has sent out a survey to the entire student body to ask this question, and to publish a report,” he added.

Hirabayashi said the HUA will collaborate with the Harvard Undergraduate Machine Intelligence Community, Harvard Open Data Project, and the Harvard AI Safety Team to create and send out a survey to the undergraduate student body.

During the meeting, HUA members also voted on a proposal from the Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College and the Eritrean and Ethiopian Students Association seeking funding to provide Bengali, Eritrean, and Ethiopian food for a communal meal on April 6. The request was made toward the HUA’s Helping Hand Grant, which has previously supported student organization events.

Samia Afrose ’25, a member of BASHA, said the two organizations are collaborating to hold a communal event to compensate for Harvard’s decision to shorten Ramadan meal programming from one month to one week.

“A big part of what’s going on is the community and having everyone come together and break our fast and pray together and eat together,” Afrose said.

Waleed T. Ibrahim ’26, a member of EESA, said the meal is “meant to showcase our two different cultures.”

Ibrahim said the event will feature “a lot of South Asian food” as well as “Eritrean and Ethiopian food, so that we can all experience this cultural immersion.”

In a separate proposal, the Queer Students Association sought Helping Hand Grant funding for food and a venue for their Queer Prom event, which will take place at the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub on April 6.

“This has been a time that has been very trying for queer and trans people across the country, and we really want to just create a space for openness, celebration, and happiness,” said Byron S. Gonzalez ’25, a member of QSA.

HUA Inclusion Team Officer Ashley C. Adirika ’26 presented a proposal seeking funding to host a financial aid fair where students can receive assistance in filling out financial aid forms from Harvard’s Financial Aid Office.

“Last year, we collaborated with the financial aid office. We got some financial aid officers to came in and assist students with filling out their financial aid forms,” Adirika said. “We had great turnout and great student feedback.”

After the meeting, HUA officers held a Q&A session for potential candidates interested in running for leadership positions next year. The candidacy declaration form — which requires contenders to indicate their position of interest and write a campaign blurb — is due Thursday.

During the session, HUA Co-President John S. Cooke ’25 encouraged people to apply and said the application process is not as stress-inducing as that of Harvard College’s previous student government, the Undergraduate Council.

“I can definitely say that HUA campaigning is a lot less stressful and a lot more open, I would say, than campaigning for something like the UC,” Cooke said.

The UC was dismantled two years ago after 75 percent of the student body voted to replace it with the HUA.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.