If elected vice president of the Yale College Council, Kevin Sullivan ’18 would help lead an organization he considers both great and terrible.

Sullivan, who previously served as vice president of the Sophomore Class Council and Morse College representative, said he understands the shortcomings of the YCC: its top-down hierarchy and general failure to listen to students. While on SoCo, Sullivan said executive leadership of YCC declined to support the budget for the Sophomore Brunch, a new yearly tradition introduced by him and Sarah Armstrong ’18, a YCC presidential candidate. He added that as a Morse College representative, he struggled to propose ideas he solicited from his fellow Yalies to executive leadership, which set the agendas for all meetings.

“The YCC shouldn’t think of itself as a student government,” Sullivan said. “We should think of it as a student council and advocacy group that supports Yalies and the individuals who need it. Though I think that it is incomplete and flawed, I really think it can do much good.”

During the past year, Sullivan served as the director of the YCC’s dining task force. In this position, he analyzed student responses to questions about dining services on the YCC’s fall survey. He then presented recommendations — such as less expensive options for on-campus meal plans, extended lunch hours and late-night meal-plan options — to the administration.

The experience showed Sullivan that reforms to University policy require persistent pressure from students. If elected vice president, Sullivan said he understands that he must support momentum on student projects that began this past year, such as the implementation of gender neutral housing, reforms to student mental health services and the elimination of the student income contribution.

Sullivan, a New Haven native and history major, said YCC’s potential to help implement these projects motivated him to run for vice president.

“We shouldn’t have a bunch of ideas that we think might go over well,” Sullivan said. “I think there really does need to be a genuine way that [YCC] relates to the student body. Every Yale student has an opinion and everyone has a say. At the end of the day, we are an advocacy body.”

Victoria Loo ’18, who is in Morse College with Sullivan, said she will vote for him because of his experience with the YCC.

“He’s done an incredible amount of work for both YCC as a Morse Representative and for SoCo,” Loo said. “He knows how the system works and how to best push for reform, which I think is one of YCC’s biggest challenges.”