Nearly 30 years ago, the Harvard Student Assembly 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."
In 1980, Dean of Harvard College John B. Fox, Jr. appointed the Committee to Review College Governance, which was asked to determine both the strengths and the weaknesses of the present system of College governance at Harvard and to consider any reforms that might improve the quality of College life. Professor of Biology John Downling chaired this committee.
The committee led to Faculty legislation creating the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council in 1982, whose Constitution was ratified by a student referendum. The first Council had about 80 members, who would elect a Chair and a Vice-Chair. The Undergraduate Council funded undergraduate organizations with the proceeds of a fee collected from each registered student, planned social events and services, and sent representatives to student-faculty committees. The Council operated in this structure for more than a decade.
In December 1995, the Undergraduate Council passed a number of internal reforms. One of the most lasting and noticeable reforms was the creation of a popularly-elected President and Vice-President. Fourteen pairs of undergraduates have served in these positions.
In 2008, Dean of the Faculty Michael Smith appointed a second committee chaired by John Dowling to review the UC's place in the University, 25 years after it was created in response to the first Dowling Report. The second Dowling Report affirmed the core mission and role of the Undergraduate Council, while providing recommendations for reforms in the Council and Faculty to better support student involvement in governance of Harvard College.
In response to the second Dowling Report, the Council passed major internal reforms in May 2009, revising its committee structure, increasing the number of representatives, and making as part of its core mission improved communication with the student body and support of independent student initiatives to better student life.
The Harvard Undergraduate Council is now more than 25 years old, fulfilling much of the promise of the first Dowling Report, providing opportunities for undergraduates to enhance College Life and advocate for changes in curricular, extracurricular, and residential policy.