Mission & Plan
1. Ethics Reform Plan
- More transparent, responsive, responsible, accessible, honest and accountable government
There will be public meetings where students can come and see what government is doing and hear issues important to them. I intend to make the elections on time next year and I will tell you the truth and keep my word to you. You will have my phone number and there will be multiple channels of communication with my administration.
- Strengthen the constitutional mandate
We will follow the constitution and propose amendments that strengthen the requirement for its adherence by future administrations. We will try to setup processes that minimize the ability of future administrations to ignore the constitution. We also want students to understand the constitution and their student rights.
- Balance the powers of the presidency with direct accountability to the students
We will seek to create or enforce appropriate checks and balances against the seemingly unlimited power of the presidency. Proposals will be drafted and submitted for deliberation along these lines.
- Restore strong functionality to student government and implement higher standards of ethical responsibility, professionalism and good governance
We intend to establish processes and systems that will create a more functional environment for student participation.
- Improve processes for conflict resolution
We will setup an informal grievance procedure for students through student government and encourage principles of relationship-building used in cutting-edge negotiation theory and practice. Disagreements should not turn into fights nor become personal.
2. Substantive Development of Community Interaction & Participation
- Restore the use of the HESA website as a powerful communication tool and to foster more community interaction
- Establish a feedback survey for HESA for the end of each semester , one in the fall and one in the spring in order to hear how we are doing and how we could be doing better.
- Establish an idea or suggestion drop box online where students can make suggestions.
This will be our commitment to listen to you and to not just operate as an isolated, distant, and possibly out-of-touch student government.
- Increase the Harvard-wide profile of professionalism and leadership by fostering collaborative initiatives on an inter-school basis such as the 2009 Negotiation & Leadership Conference
We will take the best practices and lessons learned from our most successful events and programs and leverage them to create a never-ending continual improvement cycle for HESA.
- Devise and support new or reformulated concepts for events and interests that will stimulate extension school student turnout and translate that into viable networking opportunities.
3. Substantive Leadership Development of Students
- Invest in training for students to be trained as leaders, on how to start and operate clubs and how to get involved at varying levels of commitment
- Strengthen the student club dynamics and allow them, once trained, to operate with minimal interference from the student government
For an Ethical, Accessible, and Responsible Student Government
