Ivy Council

Founded in the 1990s as a way to collaborate and exchange ideas on shared issues at their respective universities, student government leaders set the stage for the Ivy Council that exists today. The Ivy Council draws its membership from Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University.

Student leaders from the student governments of Columbia University (the Columbia College Student Council, the Columbia Engineering Student Council, and the Columbia General Studies Student Council), the Cornell University Student Assembly, the Dartmouth College Student Assembly, the Harvard University Undergraduate Council, the University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Assembly, the Princeton University Undergraduate Student Government, the Yale College Council, and the Brown University Undergraduate Council of Students have also served on the Ivy Council.[1]

The Ivy Council is not a party to, nor is it in any way adjunct to, the Ivy Group Agreement of 1954. The Ivy Council is in no way adjunct to the council of college and university Presidents known as the Council of Ivy Group Presidents. The positions taken and statements made by the Ivy Council are only representative of the undergraduate students of the eight Ivy League schools. They are not in any way taken nor made on behalf of the Ivy League itself, nor its member institutions themselves as distinct corporate entities.

The Ivy Council organizes many programs under its mission of public service. Featured programs include the Ivy Fund, the Ivy Ambassadors Initiative, and the EDU3 Fellowship. The Ivy Council also hosts various conferences that bring together student leaders from across the Ivy League and from partner organizations. These conferences aim to cultivate student leadership, generate dialogues on issues of importance, and present findings to student leaders. Ivy Council conferences are important learning experiences for everyone who attends, and members leverage the depth of expertise that is shared among participants to generate productive insights for the student leaders of the Ivy League and for international institutions.

Ivy Leadership Congress (ILC) is an annual conference hosted by the Ivy Council to bring together students leaders from the eight Ivy League universities along with leaders from the business, government, academics, and non-profit sectors of society. The conference venue is rotated each year through the campuses of the schools in the Ivy League. ILC aims to promote the exchange of ideas between students of the Ivy League and today's leaders on subjects of public policy such as university safety and ethics in science and technology. Annually, eighty participants are selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants from throughout the Ivy League. Additionally, international student leaders and partner organizations are invited to offer global perspectives and deepen cooperations with the Ivy Council. The main activities of the conference are keynote speakers, panels, and roundtable discussions. Conferences conclude with an annual report of the Ivy Council, highlighting the achievements of the past year and charting the vision for the coming year. Past speakers have included Steve Forbes, Chairman and CEO of Forbes magazine; Nasreen Berwari, Iraqi Minister of Municipalities and General Works; Jeffrey Sachs,[2] special adviser to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals; Theodore Roosevelt IV, Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and prominent environmentalist; Dov Zakheim, US Undersecretary of Defense; and Senator Cory Booker.

The Ivy Council engages with a wide range of partners, including Ivy League student organizations, community NGOs, and international organizations. Beyond the Ivy League, the Ivy Council has also partnered with universities and counterpart student leadership bodies. Domestically, these have included UC Berkeley,[3] Duke University, Stanford University, USC, George Washington University, Georgetown University, and others. Internationally, these have included the University of British Columbia[4] (Canada), Soka University (Japan),[5] the London School of Economics (UK), Seoul National University (South Korea), and Hong Kong University (Hong Kong SAR).

In addition to the student delegates from each of the member schools, the Ivy Council maintains a Steering Committee for day-to-day operations. The Steering Committee consists of Secretariat Heads and the Head Delegates of the eight member schools. Head Delegates selected by the Steering Committee from the member institutions and are entrusted to represent their respective schools in the interim between meetings of the Council.

The Steering Committee is led by Co-Presidents Sai Suhas Kopparapu & Shayan Rauf, from Columbia University. Secretariat Heads are responsible for their respective Secretariat divisions and assist with the regular operations of the Ivy Council. The Head Delegates for the 2020–2021 Steering Committee are undergoing the selection process and will be announced soon.[6]

The Ivy Council also strives to cultivate and support future leaders in business, politics, academia, tech, and more of the United States of America and the world. It supports a holistic program in leadership training across diverse domains and active mentorship. Members of the Ivy Council have gone on to become a U.S. Senator[7] and leaders of national non-profits.[8]

In 2005, member institutions of the Ivy Council withdrew from the organization due to a lack of organization.[9] Some member institutions also expressed lackluster interest in the Ivy Council, with minimal participation in the conferences.

• Ivy Council