Council Acts on Internal Policy, Hears Jewett on Financial Aid

The Undergraduate Council last night devoted most of its meeting to internal policy matters, ranging from a decision against reconsidering one of the grants awarded by the council last week to approval of funds for publicizing upcoming social events.

One notable exception on the council's procedure-laden agenda was a presentation by Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid L. Fred Jewett '57, who briefed the 76 student delegates present on how the College's financial aid system is structured.

Jewett explained that Harvard's traditional aid-blind admissions policy--which states that the College will accept students regard-less of their ability to afford tuition and other costs--is assured "for the foreseeable future" because of slowing inflation and increased financial allotments from several University sources.

Jewett's half-hour appearance--marking the first time a College official has attended a regular council meeting--was intended to provide council members with background information to "get them thinking about the issues," council Chairman Sesha Pratap '84 said after the meeting.

Pratap said that the council is considering inviting other Harvard officials to the body's Science Center meetings. He mentioned University Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54 as an administrator who might soon be asked to discuss Harvard's support to those make students who may lose federal aid because they fail to register for the draft.

Internal policy discussion, however, dominated the meeting, which ran almost an hour over its 100-minute scheduled time. The council rejected a motion to reconsider a $1000 grant approved last week to The Advocate literary magazine, despite new information about the publication's resources that council members said should have been revealed when the grant was proposed.

Council treasurer Peter N. Smith '83, who supervised the grants process, said in an interview, however, that the new information--regarding funds controlled by. The Advocate's alumni board--would probably not have prompted the council's finance committee to reject the grant.

In other business, the council discussed several aspects of its attendance policy, and approved funds for publicizing a range of council-sponsored social events this spring and for an upcoming "Harvard Night" at a local nightclub.

Also, after 25 minutes of debate, the council rejected several proposed logos for the council designed during a contest spanning the past two months.