The Harvard Undergraduate Council, formerly the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council, was created in 1982 out of the Committee to Review College Governance. This committee, chaired by Professor of Biology John Dowling, looked at the strengths and weaknesses of College governance. This review, starting in 1980, was born out of a request from the Harvard Student Assembly that wrote to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences:

“Student participation in College governance needs to be better coordinated and more directed. Harvard undergraduates need a representative student government to help accomplish these goals and to speak as a voice for student concerns. These needs can only be satisfied if the current system of College governance is reformed and if the revised structure includes a representative student government.”

To get first-hand information, I sat down with Professor John Dowling to talk about the creation of this Council. Professor Dowling explained that before the UC was created, there were 4 standing committees to address student life at Harvard. These committees were comprised of students, faculty, and administrators.


The full report from the Committee to Review College Governance can be found here. This report was brought to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and faculty legislation created the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council in 1982. Its Constitution was ratified by a student referendum, and the first Council had about 80 members, a Chair, and a Vice Chair. In 1995, the Council created the roles of President and Vice President and in 2002, the Council voted to strike Radcliffe from its name, to be formally the Harvard Undergraduate Council. Now, the Undergraduate Council has 51 undergraduate students at any given time: a president, vice-president, 3 from each of the 12 residential houses and 4 first-year yards, and 1 from Dudley House.  

The Undergraduate Council’s mission is to represent the will of the Harvard College student population regarding academic, social, residential, and administrative life to administrators, faculty, students, and the wider community while promoting belonging and wellbeing for all members of the Harvard community.

Let’s take a deeper look into how the Undergraduate Council works and its past and current initiatives!