Agreement Reached on Party Grant Dispute

The Undergraduate Council's party grant system will continue at least through the end of the semester, but money will no longer go to reimbursing alcohol.

The agreement was officially announced Tuesday morning in a e-mailed statement signed by UC President Ryan A. Petersen '08 and Interim Dean of the College David R. Pilbeam, who first tried to suspend the party grants five weeks ago.

"We are pleased to announce that the Office of the Dean of Harvard College and the Undergraduate Council (UC) have resolved the issues surrounding the UC Party Fund while ensuring that campus social life remains both vibrant and responsible," the statement reads.

The compromise stipulates that recipients will no longer be permitted to use grants to purchase alcohol, but the money may now instead cover the costs of other party-related expenses. The funding of alcohol--and potentially underage drinking--was one of the central concerns that led Pilbeam to attempt to terminate the program initially.

Petersen announced the agreement at the UC's meeting on Sunday night, but Pilbeam said that before he met with Petersen Monday, they had not yet reached a final decision.

As a result of the agreement, the administration also pledged to fund 10 Beverage Authorization Teams each semester that the UC can allocate to student group events. The two parties have decided to work toward establishing a new arbitration mechanism to negotiate conflicts between them, which they will bring before the Faculty Council later this month. Pilbeam and Petersen also said in the joint statement that they will recommend a review of the UC's role within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Petersen said Monday night that the UC will now be able to receive funds from the administration every other week, more often than in the past, though this change was not mentioned in the joint statement.

The UC will reevaluate the party grant system at the end of the semester.

Its finance committee is set to meet Wednesday to discuss what expenses the party funds will and will not cover in order to make these rules explicit to recipients, said committee chair Randall S. Sarafa '09.

"The committee will verify all the things that we will advertise as being covered by the party fund," he wrote in an e-mailed statement.

After Pilbeam announced the termination of the party grant program on Oct. 2, the UC defied the administration's decision and continued its practice of doling out thousands of dollars every week for students to buy food and alcohol for private parties.

This action prompted the College to freeze the UC's funds a week later. Weeks of closed-door negotiations between Pilbeam and Petersen resulted in the unfreezing of the funds on Oct. 24. Petersen said the discussions that led to this newest resolution also took place primarily between him and Pilbeam alone, with the agreement finalized over the past week.

"I've been working with Dean Pilbeam to form an agreement within the purview of our offices, to be hopefully met with the agreement of all involved parties," Petersen said.

After the council's funds were unfrozen and prior to the new agreement, Petersen said the UC would not allocate any of the funds it received from the administration to party grants.

—Staff writer Victoria B. Kabak can be reached at vkabak@fas.harvard.edu.