HUA Will Survey Students on Digital IDs and MBTA Passes — Again

The Harvard Undergraduate Association will once again ask students whether they want digital HUIDs and subsidized MBTA passes – two promises HUA campaigns have gone for years without delivering — HUA Residential Life Officer Finn R. Berard ’29 announced at a Sunday general meeting.

The question will appear on the ballot for the upcoming fall snap election. Berard wrote in a statement after the meeting that the surveys are “still wholly preliminary and being used to get a sense of where the undergraduate body stands on these two topics.”

The HUA has been at this stage before. This is the third time the body has surveyed students about MBTA passes. Last spring, then-Residential Life Officer Isabelle G. Agarwal ’28 said she hoped to launch a pilot program this school year that would give roughly 500 students free passes if the data showed enough demand, a condition the MBTA had set before the program could move forward. The pilot has not launched.

In a later statement, Berard wrote that the timeline for the pilot program remains unfinalized without a projected start date.

This time, the survey will ask more specific questions on how the passes could more concretely be implemented, while Agarwal polled more broadly on past and current student ridership with a focus on getting approval for the program.

Digital HUIDs, which would let students swipe into Harvard buildings with their phones, have appeared in campaign platforms since at least 2024. Former HUA Co-President Caleb N. Thompson ’27 said in an April interview that their administration reached out to HUID administrators “many times” and even visited their office in person, but that the project never gained enough “traction.”

The survey will ask about “students experiences” with physical IDs and how the current system might translate to a digital or hybrid system, according to Berard.

The Residential Life team is also preparing surveys on interest in after-hours access to Annenberg and the Cambridge Queen’s Head.

At the meeting, the HUA also discussed a collaboration with the Harvard Cooperative Society to hand out free HUA-branded sports merchandise at home games.

The body allocated $1,500 to the project at a separate general meeting last week, and the Sports Team plans to table at five “featured” home games this semester across several varsity sports to boost attendance and “school spirit.”

HUA Co-President Zachary “Zach” Berg ’28 said that the merchandise “will be given out at home games to incentivize participation and increase the visibility of the HUA.”

The partnership is one of several Sports Team initiatives this year, including the debut of a turkey mascot at Saturday’s Harvard-Princeton Football game. Berg said the team had “an abundance of volunteers who are willing to be the turkey.” The HUA has tried and failed to gain student satisfaction with a turkey mascot since at least 2016.

The team is also piloting changes to the University’s daytime van service, which provide transportation outside set shuttled routes for students with disabilities.

According to HUA Sports Officer Ella S. McRitchie ’28, the team will be running a trial program on the service to pinpoint “where the shortcomings of the van service are” and improve them.

McRitchie said she hopes to move the service’s start time earlier for injured athletes with morning practices. The vans run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m on weekdays, and start later on weekends, running from 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“A lot of athletes that get injured and need the service to get to practice,” aren’t able to use it because the van service doesn’t start until later on, McRitchie said. “That is a big issue for a lot of people, so we’re trying to address that.”

Berg praised the Sports Team’s high engagement in the general meeting.

“The Sports Team this year has been more active than any year in HUA history,” he said.

—Staff writer Alma T. Barak can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at almabk.54. Follow her on X @almabk_.

—Staff writer Theresa F. Bartelme can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at theresabartelme.15. Follow her on X @theresabartelme.