Student Government Election Commission - Blueprint for Action
As mentioned in the Story of Us, the 2021-2022 academic year was filled with several monumental moments in the Undergraduate Council Election Commission history. Some elections ran more smoothly than others, but none came without at least some complaints regarding the way the cycle went. In February, I conducted a case study about Georgetown University, and had the opportunity to speak with the chair of the student government election commission there. After learning how they too have a commission of five members, each of which with a defined role, and suffered from a controversial election cycle as a result of not having all roles filled, this certainly shed light and solidified my research question:
How can the Undergraduate Council Election Commission restructure its current framework to enhance credibility and instill trust within the student body?
METHODOLOGY
Focus Group
The 2021-2022 Undergraduate Council Election Commissioners came together, discussed the pluses and deltas of the year’s election cycles, and ultimately workshopped the ways in which the Commission could be improved and even idealized. Due to the collaborative nature of the Commission, facilitating a focus group made the most sense as it provided a platform for the Commissioners to bounce ideas off of one another and bolster their recommendations.
“There’s too much information in the rules.”
“I think in an ideal world, the rules are more clearly communicated and probably more deliberately decided upon.”
Three key highlights that came out of the Focus Group:
- Redistributing the workload so that less fell on the Chair
- Centralizing communication and maintaining consistent messaging
- Creating, updating, and approving of rules early on and highlighting those that are of the utmost importance to avoid penalty incurred
Expert Interview
The Dean of Students Office (DSO) is the hub which oversees all student organizations on campus. For at least the last five years, the Associate Director of Student Organizations & Resources has worked in tandem with the Election Commission to ensure that elections for the Undergraduate Council are carried out fairly. The director along with the Council’s admin advisor (also a professional) may provide guidance and serve as a mediator upon the request of the Commission to ensure rulings are fair and neutral, while still allowing the students who compose the Commission to act with full agency. Due to the contentious nature of several of the 2021-2022 elections, there was more request for involvement than normal, ultimately leading to this conversation about how to more concretely solidify the role and relationship between the Commission and professionals from the DSO
“I think what I’m really good at, which would be really good for the commission is thinking of all different sides: the pros, the cons, who’s going to complain, who’s not going to complain, and making sure they Commission is taking a holistic approach to their policies, so that way there are no gaps that could happen.”
Three key highlights that came out of the Expert Interview:
- Establishing a meeting cadence with the Commission and Associate Director (even during off-cycle months) to keep everyone looped in
- Providing support and input to ensure that a holistic approach/perspective is taken into consideration for the policies, decisions, and communications that come from the Commission
- Evaluating the platform and process for hosting elections and voting to enhance the experience for all
Empirical Interviews
The Undergraduate Council was the organization known as Harvard Undergraduates’ student government from 1982-2022. In order to be a member of the Council, a student must run and be elected by their district for general membership, or the student body for the role of President and Vice President. All members must interact with the Commission at minimum to declare candidacy and attend an official rules meeting. Some members, such as the secretary and rules chair, spend more time working with the Commission due to their role descriptions. No Council member may serve on the Commission simultaneously, however switching between the Council and Commission from year to year is not unheard of. I had the opportunity to speak with two members, one of which was a former rules chair and had the longest standing institutional memory of those who remained on the Council, and another who was new to both the Council and the school this academic year.
“I think each year we add or subtract responsibilities from the Election Commission and people forget who did that and why… I was pretty happy with the way the powers were distributed but I do think there’s an issue of actually explaining what the Commission does to both members of the UC and the Student Body.”
“I was always happy about the process of the Commission because I always saw it as something external to the UC, it always seemed to be very objective, and you didn’t have any incentive to take a part or take a stand”
Three key highlights that came out of the Empirical Interviews:
- The role of the Commission as defined by the UC Constitution is not incredibly detailed, meaning the expectations vary from year-to-year
- The trust of the Commission and the trust of the Council within the student body are not mutually exclusive, despite the two being defined as independent bodies
- There exists a void in which greater collaboration can be fostered, especially when it comes to sound communication and enhancing professionalism
HUA Content Analysis
On March 31, 2022, the dissolution of the Undergraduate Council and the establishment of the Harvard Undergraduate Association came to fruition. With less than a month until the end of classes and a little over a month left until the end of reading period and commencement of exams, the transition from the old student government to the new was rather swift. Within days, an email was sent out with an application to join the HUA Election Commission. Once established, the inaugural election cycle for the HUA took place, and was finalized on April 30, 2022. Throughout the process, the student body received several emails and new documentation pertaining to the HUA election process. As such, I’ve followed the process closely and compared it to that of the Undergraduate Council.
Three key highlights that came out of the HUA Content Analysis:
- 7 Commissioners were selected and they were required to disclose their relationship to every candidate to the DSO
- Elections for all officers occurred simultaneously and will continue to be this way in future cycles
- A centralized website with candidate information/platforms was sent to the student body and campaigning via email was banned
BLUEPRINT
Through synthesizing all of the research and information that I’ve collected throughout this research process, I have compiled a set of recommendations that a student government election commission can use if they’re just starting up, or looking to improve an existing framework to enhance credibility and instill trust when conducting elections.
