Is the Harvard Undergraduate Council effective in improving student life in any meaningful way?

Oh, definitely: Sam&Gus just http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/11/22/clark-mayopoulos-win-resign/ the UC election! And don't tell me this was a coincidence: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/11/21/tomato-basil-weekly/. Still waiting on the other plank of their platform (increasing toilet paper thickness in Harvard bathrooms). Seriously though, joke candidates seem to show up pretty often. The http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/16/long-uc-tickets-campaign/ of 2009 was so memorable even I know about it, despite coming to Harvard in 2010. (It featured slogans like "Touching students everywhere," "Erecting a better Harvard," "Servicing the student body, "Penetrating the real issues,” and "Going deep inside budget cuts.") The joke candidacies reflect a sentiment that drove Sam&Gus to victory this year. “We don’t appreciate the fact that that UC is dominated by insiders and self-serving bureaucrats,” said Long, “Hopefully, if anything, our outsider status will help us because people seem to be a little turned off by how seriously the UC takes itself.” ... If you don’t care about the UC, then vote for Long-Johnson because neither do they. If you do care, then vote for Long-Johnson because there is no ticket with better competence to do whatever it is the UC does. From the Crimson this year: Quite frankly, I'd take two realistic and practical, if banal, campaign promises over the ridiculous pie in the sky nonsense that is pushed every year. The other tickets thought they can foist a new major on FAS?! Who are they kidding? The Undergraduate Council has no responsibility to follow through on their promises to the student body and the University has no responsibility to listen to the UC. For example, last year students voted for Harvard’s divestment of funds from the fossil-fuel industry; a reevaluation of Harvard’s sexual-assault policy (in the wake of http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article%2F2012%2F10%2F17%2Faccount-sexual-assault-amherst-college); and a social-choice fund within Harvard’s endowment. But ... "I think the referendum questions need a great deal of further study," [College Dean] Hammonds said. "Certainly, I’ve said that to the students who prepared the referendum." This is not the UC's fault. It's the University's. Maybe the UC just isn't "trying hard enough" -- but I suspect we spend a lot more time scapegoating them rather than acknowledging that they don't have the final say in any decisions the University makes. But you wanted to know about the meaningful impact of the UC. There are things that the UC is sort of responsible for, but the the University probably would have done anyway: Card swipe access used to be limited to your own dorm or House. If you wanted to visit a friend in another House, you'd have to prop a door or piggy-back in, but now we have broad access to residential buildings. Exams were moved to before winter break. Before, your winter break would be spent in anxious studying as you tried not to forget everything you learned over December; you'd get back on campus and have to take your final exams from the fall semester. This was a referendum that actually made it to action. I've heard some say Lamont Cafe came from the UC, but apparently http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/10/18/lamont-cafe-opens-to-public-a/. However, Lamont's extended hours were implemented in the fall of 2005 after the http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/7/7/24-hour-lamont-likely-here-to-stay/ during the 2004–2005 academic year demonstrating students’ desire for longer library hours. Good job, UC! Funding student groups.