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Gong and Goffard Seek To 'Go Forward'

Gong-Goffard
Jennifer Y Yao

Last May, C.C. Gong ’15 was worried about waking up in time for a final exam. But Sietse K. Goffard ’15 had her back.

At 7 a.m., Gong found Goffard outside her door, waiting with a homemade breakfast complete with hand-squeezed orange juice.

That sort of friendship, Gong said, would make the pair “the perfect working team” to serve as president and vice president of the Undergraduate Council.

“I think you need to be friends to work so closely and so hard with each other,” Gong said.

Their fellow UC representatives said that the two candidates complement each other both personally and professionally.

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Friends said that Gong was known for her role in spearheading social initiatives such as the Council’s outing to Salem during Halloween, while Goffard was heavily involved in student advocacy projects such as securing weekend and morning shuttles to the Quad.

“The mission of the UC is social and infrastructural development, and if one of them is good at the social and the other is good at infrastructural, as are C.C. and Sietse, then you have a match made in heaven,” UC Lowell House Representative Dhruv P. Goyal ’16 said.

The duo envisions a transformed Council focused on increasing student activities funding, advocating for inclusivity, and empowering students.

GO FORWARD

Using a word-play inspired by their last names, Gong and Goffard’s main slogan “Go Forward” captures the ticket’s goals.

Naming student needs that they plan to focus on, they listed more inclusive dining options, more accessible mental health resources, and improved housing and transportation. They say that the UC’s budget, nearly half a million dollars, has been constant since 2006 despite the increasing number of student organizations.

“What the University is taking from students is not increasing in proportion to what students are putting into their own student life,” Gong said.

Gong and Goffard also said that they hope to encourage students to use We the Crimson, an online platform that allows undergraduates to submit petitions. And they want to increase student participation in Harvard’s capital campaign, an ongoing effort which aims to raise $6.5 billion.

“Students have had no input on the slices of pie that this money is going to thus far,” Goffard said.

C.C. HER GO

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