Harvard Withdraws From Ivy Council

When the Ivy Council gathers for its fall conference at Cornell this November, don’t expect to see all the Ivy League schools represented. Harvard has officially withdrawn its delegation, and the jury is still out on if and when it might return.

Last spring, the Harvard Undergraduate Council passed a resolution to withdraw its delegation from the Ivy Council, citing the frequent absenteeism and lack of professionalism on the parts of the other member universities as its main reasons for leaving.

“In a cost-benefit analysis, what little we were getting out of the council simply didn’t justify the time and money spent on these meetings and conferences,” said former council member Sopen Shah, Harvard ’08.

Harvard’s departure leaves a conspicuous absence in a group designed to unite the small confederation of schools, and it may weaken the council’s influence and credibility.

The purpose of the Ivy Council, whose delegates are mostly student council members at their respective schools, is to provide a forum for undergraduate leaders to network and compare notes on common issues. The council members have met frequently via the Internet and convene once a semester at a member school, where they work to pass legislation in support of various ideas. It also functions as a lobbying group with the power to pass resolutions stating a common stance on issues ranging from tuition reform to hate speech and academic freedom policies.

“The Ivy Council has name recognition, and administrators respect us when we can bring a proposal before them and say that it has the full support of the rest of the Ivy League schools,” Ivy Council member Riddhi Dasgupta, CC ’07, said.

While Columbia has been very involved with the body in recent years, Harvard’s status with the Ivy Council has been consistently uncertain, as the delegation has left and rejoined the council several times since it was founded in 1993.

This time, Harvard departed under no uncertain terms, as the strongly-worded resolution to leave passed through the Harvard Undergraduate Council by a vote of 19 to 4 to 4. The legislation included specific examples of past lateness, shoddy work, and apathy on the part of other delegations.

Though members of the Columbia delegation expressed confidence that Harvard’s return to the council would be forthcoming, Harvard students are divided. While Harvard’s bill to withdraw received resounding support, some of the students most in favor of severing ties with the council have now graduated, and a faction of the Harvard Undergraduate Council would like to see reconciliation.

“I’ve been working with students here to mend fences, because Harvard and the Ivy Council need each other,” said Matthew Greenfield, Harvard ’08 and a member of the Ivy Council’s steering committee. “Harvard can’t afford to be the grumpy neighbor on the block.”

But Jason Lurie, Harvard ’05 and one of the principle authors of the resolution to withdraw, firmly disagreed. “I doubt in the strongest possible terms that Harvard will come back any time soon,” he said. “Too much would have to change.”

Though council delegates clearly have their differences, all agree that the Ivy Council’s mission is a worthwhile one, and that it has the potential to be a useful forum to exchange information and gain perspective. “I found the meetings of student council presidents that occurred at the meetings to be very helpful in doing my job,” said former CCSC president and Ivy Council delegate Michael Novielli, CC ’03.

The remaining seven schools will continue on this year as planned, but as to whether or not Harvard’s absence will render the council impotent or significantly hinder it, only time will tell.

“I don’t think Harvard dropping out will necessarily hurt the work the council does because the remaining organizations work so well together, but it will change things,” Ivy Council member David Chait, CC ’07, said. “We’re trying to be the best organization we can be, and we hope to keep growing—even if all the schools can’t participate.”