The Harvard Graduate Council reviewed new resolutions and reflected on challenges wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic during its final public meeting of the academic year on Monday.
Both the resolutions introduced at the meeting aim to ease the financial and mental burdens facing graduate students as a result of the pandemic.
One resolution, brought by Graduate School of Education student Said Bilani, among others, advocated for the use of the Council’s One Harvard Catalyst Fund to provide “financial support to students challenged by the circumstances of the Pandemic.”
The other resolution, organized by Rutvij Merchant, a student at the School of Public Health, presented a slew of recommendations including the extension of University emails for 2021 graduates for at least two years after graduation. The resolution, in response to the intersectional challenges graduate students have faced during the pandemic, posits that access to Harvard emails will assist recent graduates with
Members of the Harvard Graduate Council elected Harvard Medical School student Peter Choi and Harvard School of Public Health student Himaja Nagireddy as the new president and vice president of the Council, respectively, during a virtual meeting Monday evening.
Since last year, the Council has conducted its elections virtually, with each of the 12 graduate schools allowed one vote. Choi, a first-year in the Medical School’s Master of Bioethics program, assumes the presidency after serving as Vice Chair of Governance. Nagireddy formerly served as Chair of Operations.
Chanthia C. Ma, the outgoing Council president, said she has “really high hopes” for Choi and Nagireddy’s ability to helm the organization in the months to come.
UPDATED: Feb. 19, 2021 at 9:40 p.m.
The Harvard Graduate Council reviewed survey data about the graduate student experience in the pandemic era, and also signed letters to the Biden administration co-written by the MIT Graduate Student Council during its second public meeting of the semester Wednesday.
Graduate School of Design students provided an introduction to the virtual gathering, continuing the in-person tradition of having one graduate school “host” each meeting. Mena W. Ahmed, the president of the GSD Student Forum, took Zoom attendees on a virtual “tour” of the school and highlighted its key traditions.
HGC President Chanthia C. Ma then presented the results of a student experience survey conducted across all the graduate schools this summer. Though Council representatives shared parts of the survey results with department administrators earlier in the year, Wednesday’s meeting was the first time the Council has shared the full findings publicly, Ma said.
The Harvard Graduate Council mulled student government priorities and institutional challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic in its first public meeting of the semester Wednesday evening.
The Council which represents all twelve of the University’s graduate and professional schools communicates graduate student needs with Harvard administrators including University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Provost Alan M. Garber ’76. Wednesday’s meeting marked the start of biweekly public meetings, held over Zoom during the pandemic.
The meeting opened with remarks by Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen, who said there will “probably be stages” to the potential reopening of campus come fall. Despite a recent decline in Covid-19 cases across the country, the risk of infection remains due to the emergence of new variants, Nguyen added.