Who Guards the Council?

"QUIS CUSTODIAT ipsos custodes?" (Who guards the guardians?) was the Latin quotation of the month following the release of the Tower Commission report. Members of the commission used the quotation when talking about the lack of supervision which they said led to mismanagement and possibly to financial illegality in the Iran-Contra affair. "Quis custodiat ipsos custodes" may be equally apt in scrutinizing the financial operations of the Undergraduate Council.

The council gets a $10 slice of every undergraduate termbill. Although most students know about this fee, they know very little about what happens to the money after it leaves their pockets. Each semester the council doles out nearly $20,000 of the money to student groups and makes the dispersements public. But what does the council do with the approximately $20,000 it keeps for itself?

This article addresses that question, presenting one recent instance in which the council committed $12,000 to a risky business venture and then misrepresented the terms of the deal. During the next two weeks I will use this space to look at other aspects of the council's financial operations, including the extravagant sum the council pays to run its Canaday Hall basement office and a system for handing out grant money that slights some student groups while overfunding others. At the conclusion of the series I will look at the ways other schools fund student groups and propose changes that would streamline the council's operation.

IN LATE February the council announced a loan of $12,000 to a student group that was negotiating to bring Elvis Costello to campus for his upcoming concert. James Chung, manager of the Student Production Association, an affiliate of the Undergraduate Council, at that time told The Crimson that the agreement guaranteed repayment of the loan, which would be used as seed money to attract corporate sponsorship for the Costello concert.

In a recent telephone interview, however, Council Treasurer David McDonald said there had been a "misunderstanding" in the earlier reports. He said that the council's arrangement with the Student Production Association was not a loan at all, but rather made the council the first sponsor of the event. As it turned out, no corporate sponsors were attracted. The council will recoup the students' funds, McDonald said, only if the concert is a success.

It looks like the concert will break even, and if it does the council will make back the $12,000 investment. But under the terms of the council's agreement, it was not out of the financial woods even after the Bright Hockey Center concert sold-out the first day tickets went on sale. When the SPA set ticket prices, it apparently did not take into account that even a full house would not cover Costello's $33,500 appearance fee.

Just last week the council convinced the Boston Department of Public Safety to permit temporary seating during the concert, saving itself from underwriting a substantial portion of the allegedly self-supporting event with termbill funds.

THE COUNCIL'S good fortune in convincing Boston to permit additional seating for the concert does not change the fact that the council did not take the time to look into city ordinances restricting the concert's size before putting student money on the line. Council members in part justified the investment in the concert by arguing that reduced ticket prices would make the Costello show more affordable than professionally produced concerts. Apparently, however, the council did not do the research necessary to know if that would be the case. Tickets, which SPA Vice Chairman Jeffrey A. Nachmanoff at first said would cost between $9 and $14, had to be sold at the higher price.

This lack of foresight on the council's part is particularly disturbing since the last Harvard concert, by REM in 1983, turned out to be a financial disaster.

The council's inattention to significant details of the concert may have impact beyond its balance sheet. With two weeks left before Costello's show, it appears that Bright Hockey Center officials will continue to deny requests to remove the plexiglass around the rink, saying they will not interfere significantly with the concert's acoustics. It is doubtful that material designed to stop flying pucks will not interfere with Costello's music. Assistant Athletic Director for Operations Scott H. Anderson says that only a few spectators will be affected, but the plexiglass spans Bright's first three rows, which seat nearly 800 people.

The council's failure to protect a $12,000 involvement in the Costello concert and its attempts to keep the actual terms of the deal hidden are not isolated incidents. The articles to follow will show it to be part of a regular pattern of fast and loose use of the money undergraduates entrust to the sudent government.