Student Council Faces Possible Funds Shortage

The Student Council will probably have to cut down on several of its planned conferences and reports if it does not collect more of its pledged funds than it has already, president Larry R. Johnson '58 reported last night.

Council members learned at Monday night's meeting that of the $3700 pledged, only $2300 has been collected, all but about $300 for which was paid in cash at Registration. Last year the Council operated on about $5800, and left about $1500 for the 1957-58 Council. If the full pledged amount is paid, therefore, this Council will be in "adequate financial condition."

If no more than this $2300 is paid, however, the Council will be operating on a "bare minimum," Johnson said. In this case many of the Council's usual projects, such as reports on College problems will have to be abandoned, although we could get by on $2200," Johnson admitted.

Of the pledges which the Council has collected so far, most have come from freshmen, Johnson added. Very few upperclass pledges have been paid, and the Council expects to send out letters reminding upperclass signers that they have promised money to the Council.

Upperclassmen also pledged less to the Council than did freshmen, although even the freshman contribution was not as great as expected. Johnson attributed underclass lack of contribution to the "extreme view" of last year's freshmen toward the strong-arm methods of solicitation employed by the Council last year.

Shamed Contributors

Then new method of "soft-sell" persuasion was, Johnson admitted, "less successful for bringing in money," though it was "better in the long run" than the former manner. Contributors this year, the president felt, were students "who wanted to give, while in previous years, they have been "shamed into giving."

In case the Council does not receive the full $3700, it plans as yet no additional money-raising devices. The executives will probably discuss their entire money-raising policy with John A. Ballard, Acting Assistant Dean of the College, at the Council's next Dean's Luncheon.