Council Pays for Posters and Pastries

As the Undergraduate Council's communications and finance committee begins processing its more than $36,000 in grant and loan requests from 38 campus organizations committee members will occasionally have to step aside when groups they are involved in come up for funding consideration

Developments

The council, now in its second year is the first student government to be charged with disbursing funds among student groups Undergraduate term bills yield the $15,000 for the student organizations as well as the council's other operating funds.

So it seems inevitable that student legislators considering the proposals of their peers, therefore, almost inevitably run into conflict, especially when these legislators are active or even charter members of other organizations.

This week, for example two such cases came up, when the committee heard proposals from the Athena Society a woman's social club, and the Democratic Club.

Felicra A. Eckstein '84 is a founding member of the Athena Society and co-chairman of C&P, and council member Vincent I Chang '84 is editor in chief of the club's publication. Perspective.

Eckstein said she abstained from the committee's discussion and vote on the Athena Society Chang said he faced no conflict at this particular meeting because he is not a member of the committee which appropriates grants.

But he said he will abstain from voting when the matter comes before the full council in several weeks.

"I don't feel it's conflict yet," said Chang "My position on the Democratic Club doesn't impair my position on the Student Services Committee," he added

One conflict last year arose when Caroline Lipson '84, then a C&P member, presented a request from the Mather House Committee which she also chairs

C&F rejected the $600 request for airfare to fly television host Richard Dawson to Cambridge to perform in Mather's version of the game show "Family Fend," because "didn't look precise enough" and was not an event that benefitted the entire University, according to Eckstein.

Lipson said that the presentation followed the usual procedure except that "the committee was a little more defensive about their objections".

After submitting a written application describing the organization and how the requested money well be used, organization representatives make a presentation before a subcommittee of C&F.

The committee then votes on funding the proposal and submits its decision as part of a recommended budget to the full council for final approval or amendment.

While the committee approved the Democratic Club's request for $225 to fund Perspective, it rejected the Athena Society's request on the grounds that the club was asking the council to "subsidize a private event" according to treasurer Eliot T. Kieval '84.

"It was a little awkward, but they treated

the request like the request of any other group," said Eckstein.

Kieval added that the proposal included $16 for 40 pastries at 40 cents each. "I was impressed with the way the committee put their objections out in the open" said peter N. Smith '83. last year's treasure, who attended the meeting. "The fact that the co-chair of the committee was also a member of this group didn't faze them."

But council members stressed that the nature of the council-which they said tends to attract students who have previously been active in other organization-makes for frequent overlap, which is not necessarily harmful.

Being involved with an applicant group has been helpful in giving committee members an "idea of what it was like to be on the other side," said Jake Steven '86' a current council member who chaired C&F last year. "We got a chance to see if our procedure makes people uncomfortable," he explained.

Stevens said he experienced a conflict when the committee received several proposals from the Gay and Lesbian Students Association, of which he is a member.

He added that while it was easy to abstain from voting, it is difficult not to become involved in the discussion-especially when a committee member feels he can add new information which the group otherwise would not have.

Stevens said this was especially difficult in the consideration of the association, because there were no other gay students on the committee.

But students say that this link is helped in getting applications for funding from groups that otherwise would not be aware of this resource.

Stevens explained, "In s sense it's the obligation of every council member to make his constitute aware of the council's money but that doesn't make the council member the group's advocate.