Word: sac
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...focus of SAC's discussions during the past two years was not programming but rather how to make the IOP more inclusive and better distribute its resources to all students. To achieve these goals, SAC voted to dramatically reduce its role at the IOP by halving its own size. It also created a merit-based intermediate level of involvement, the Senior Associate Program, which recognized the leadership non-SAC students provided the Institute. This semester, as this new structure matured, it was these non-SAC members who possessed the most significant responsibilities the IOP offered. A non-SAC student...
...SAC also formed an outreach task force that surveyed undergraduates for their ideas and invited all student leaders to discuss how the IOP could better serve their organizations. This semester, more than 60 student organizations took advantage of this opportunity. Because of these efforts, our events are more directly correlated to student interests, and attendance at all IOP events has been higher this semester than it was in the past. This is a clear sign SAC's efforts were successful in helping to execute the mission of the Institute...
...Another common misperception is that SAC members received special privileges. Although some members of SAC devoted more than 60 hours a week to projects at the IOP, they received no perquisites that were unavailable to other Harvard students. As the student who administered lotteries for IOP events, I can say authoritatively that lotteries operate randomly with one exception: They first selected students who have never attended IOP events. Additionally, the bylaws of SAC prevented its members from participating in some of the IOP's most lucrative programs. As a SAC member, I could not receive an IOP-sponsored internship, internship...
...Finally, SAC was unfairly criticized for the process by which it selected its new members. Like many Harvard student organizations, SAC admitted new members through an application process rather than elections. All applicants wrote essays and were interviewed by a selection committee that evaluated them with an objective point-based system which considered both their personal merit and larger concerns of diversity and fair representation of gender, race, ideology and interest as well. Like any selection process, especially at Harvard, many qualified applicants were not accepted. These students were understandably disappointed with the outcome of the process, and some advocated...
...Within SAC, we frequently debated the competing advantages of elections and applications. SAC consistently voted against elections because it feared they would create an atmosphere in which students became more interested in promoting themselves than the mission of the IOP. We also feared that elections would not ensure fair representation. The leadership of Harvard student organizations has long failed to reflect the diversity of the student body. At a bi-partisan institute dedicated to involving all undergraduates in politics and public service, we felt strongly that SAC should remain mindful of its composition...