Plugging Away

I.               Welcome, Introductions, and Charge to the Committee

In the first meeting of CCL, we discussed Crimson presence at meetings, three proposed student organizations, and the general growth of student groups.

II.             Crimson Presence at Meetings

We wanted to determine whether or not the Crimson would be present to cover CCL meetings. On the one hand, some were worried that its presence would negatively influence the free flow of opinions and ideas. Others pointed to the high value the Committee should place on freedom of the press and transparency, especially given that we are discussing issues pertinent to all students.

We ultimately decided that the Crimson would be present, but that as in years past, the reporter would refrain from attributing direct quotations to individuals during the meetings, and would instead seek out direct quotations from members of the Committee after the meetings. The Crimson reporter assigned to coverage of CCL Chelsea Shover.

III.           Proposed Student Organizations-

We reviewed three student groups: Harvard College Friends of Sri Lanka, Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative, and Harvard College Languages at Work. We approved Harvard College Friends of Sri Lanka and Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative as new student organizations.

We deferred final decision on Harvard College Languages at Work until a later date. We concluded that the group could use some more time to discuss the vision of the group and how the students in charge would go about fulfilling that vision. They will meet with Dean Kidd and Professor Conley to discuss their plans and ideas.

IV.            Growth of Student Organizations

Finally, we discussed the general phenomenon of the growth of student organizations. Harvard has over 400 student groups, and there has been a recent trend in specialization of student groups. For example, the Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative is now a student group, but we also have the Harvard College Global Health Forum. Due to specialization, redundancy of groups has become an issue. We discussed the position we want to take on the growth and specialization of student organizations. We agreed that we must be careful not to stifle student organizations and initiatives, while at the same time making sure that groups are not so numerous that funding for all groups becomes even further limited. As this is a developing issue, we did not reach a firm conclusion on it, but we will continue to discuss it as new student groups come before the committee for approval.