Harvard Undergraduate Council

The Harvard Undergraduate Council, Inc., colloquially known as "the UC", is the representative student government of Harvard College. The Council was established in 1982 by a vote of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and student referendum. The Council is responsible for the administration of student services, campus-wide events, and student advocacy at Harvard. There are approximately 50 undergraduate students at any given time serving on the Council, 3 from each of the 12 residential houses and 4 freshman districts. Students from the Dudley Cooperative also have a representative on the Council. The UC also collaborates with the Harvard Graduate Student Government, the representative student government for the twelve graduate and professional schools of Harvard University formerly known as the Harvard Graduate Council.

History

In the year 1980, the Dean of Harvard College John B. Fox initiated a committee that was to be called the Committee to Review College Governance, chaired by John Dowling, who was a professor of biology at the College. This committee was tasked with the duty of determining the strengths and the weaknesses of the present system of governance at the College and of considering any needed reforms that might improve the quality of college life at Harvard.