Every year HLS students elect a new Student Government (SG), and with every year that SG brings a slate of ideas and faces a new set of challenges. Their work, like any school’s student government, can be hugely impactful or largely routine, in part depending on its leadership and in part on school-enforced constraints. The HLS SG manages a budget of tens of thousands of dollars every year and shapes student life through running events, coordinating and advocating with the administration, and playing a major role in student organization funding. Their leadership – two co-presidents, a Director of Student Organizations, and a host of appointed cabinet members – work with the Student Council, a group of elected representatives from all years, including LLMs and SJDs.
This year’s presidents, Salah-Dean Satouri, J.D. ‘26, and Chris Egi, J.D.-.M.B.A ‘26, were elected last spring with 784 votes, or just under 50% turnout of the voting population. Chris, who hails from Toronto and played basketball at Harvard College, and Salah-Dean, who went to college in the UK and transferred to HLS from Georgetown last year, gave an exclusive interview with The Record.
Both co-presidents expressed dissatisfaction with HLS Administration, and a desire to shape student life through dialogue and advocacy. Their platform is based around five ‘pillars’ of priorities: voice, community, service, connection, and safety. Chris and Salah-Dean told us they plan to advocate for greater student involvement in admissions, increased funding for student organizations, and collaboration with other schools or the Cambridge community at large. Overall, both want to make an environment where students feel like they belong.
“I think there’s a way of viewing Harvard where the admin kind of delivers Harvard as an experience to us,” Chris said, referring to last year’s controversies over access to the WCC’s Haas Lounge (often called Belinda Hall by students) and suspending library protestors. “And there’s another way of viewing Harvard where it’s our school as students,” Chris continued, emphasizing his goal to “elevate student voices.” That work will be difficult, as Chris recognized the challenges he anticipates in creating community, exemplified by the drastic drop in Black student admissions this year.
Referring again to Haas Lounge/Belinda Hall and many of the Palestine protests last year, Salah-Dean said: “I saw the administration taking some pretty hard-line stances that I felt were not consistent with my beliefs, or consistent with the student body’s beliefs.” Chris agreed, adding that “in sum, [Harvard] hasn’t necessarily been a place we can be proud of.”
The idea that HLS SG should take a stance on controversial issues or, at least, reflect the student body’s stance on those issues, has itself been controversial. Last year, a petition brought to the Student Council prompted a school-wide referendum asking: “Should Harvard divest from weapons, surveillance technology, and other companies aiding violations of international humanitarian law, including Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine?” 72.7% of the referendum voters said Yes, with 842 total voting – a higher turnout of the student body than the SG election itself received. But that left nearly a quarter of voters opposed, and many more unrepresented, exemplifying earlier debate over the role of Student Government.
In 2023, for instance, the SG’s only resolution came in the last week of class, calling for Harvard’s divestment from all institutions “that aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians.” That resolution prompted several resignations and an outcry from many students and organizations, who attacked the SG’s involvement in controversial world issues and their alleged failure to follow proper voting procedures. Similarly, in 2024, the HLS administration sent an email attacking the Student Government’s voting and election procedures, particularly with regard to the student-wide referendum. The Administration essentially alleged that the SG was sowing division instead of promoting unity.
When asked about the function of SG in divisive issues, both Salah-Dean and Chris asserted that their beliefs should shape SG’s leadership. Salah-Dean said his view of SG is “to represent the entire student body, in one respect, but in others, to push the administration to hold true what should be true,” and to uphold “these really core values that Harvard should stand for – like freedom of academic expression and freedom of speech.” Chris said SG’s “first role is kind of like a vessel for student opinion.” At the same time, he said, “We ran on a platform. And we ran based on our personal values, and we were elected for that . . . So I think our role is to basically espouse that in how we run the Student Government, how we advocate to the administration.”
At a practical level, and as previous SG slates have learned, putting any agenda into action is difficult. Chris and Salah-Dean’s primary avenue for advocacy will be through dialogue with the administration. SG may have some privilege in holding HLS administration’s ear, although Chris also wants to add more student input into groups like the Harvard-wide Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR), composed of four each of faculty, students, and alumni. Both are also prioritizing advocating for public interest students, as fellowships have become narrower in the work they fund and certain federal grants have stopped altogether.
Along with those efforts, the new presidents also hope to build a more community and service-oriented student government. This year, Salah-Dean and Chris hope to bring back more regular community service and volunteering events. Chris said their goal is to build a “connective tissue” between students. Salah-Dean hopes to plan regular service events at local shelters or food banks to help students provide back to their community.
As SG communications and activities have resumed this fall, students also have an opportunity to join both the Council and the executive cabinet. And today, the next step in filling out the Student Government began with elections for class representatives and class marshals. For the latter, an impressive thirty-one 3Ls have put their hat in the ring. With an eye towards building their vision with these incoming student leaders, Chris and Salah-Dean told us that they are looking forward to working with a team “committed to leading with values,” who are “willing to help Harvard or HLS be the best version of itself.”