Houses Express Worries On Funds

Cabot House's financial troubles have focused attention on an Undergraduate Council decision to slow extra funding to cash-strapped house committees.

In the past, the Undergraduate Council has given a portion of its surplus money at the end of the academic year to the house committees. But citing its own fiscal shortcomings, the council created a new bylaw last year that allows it to keep that money, according to council vice president Brandon C. Gregoire '95.

Several students said officials from the house committees met with council representatives two weeks ago to discuss the issue.

Dana W. Lansky, chair of the Cabot House committee, said the lack of council funds has been devastating to her house's small budget.

"When our administration took over last January, we only had $700 to start off with," she said. "We're not sure exactly why we had so little, but other houses start out around the $10,000 range. Now we're stuck with this little amount of money. It has been a challenge for us to provide what we want to do for the house."

For houses with larger budgets, the drop in council funding didn't have as much effect, said Kirkland House committee chair Mary E.M. Rocha '95.

"We've always had a larger budget, so the U.C. money was just icing on the cake for us," Rocha said. "But houses with smaller budgets like Cabot really counted on that money."

Under the new system, the houses, like all other student organizations, can request grant money from the Undergraduate Council, Gregoire said. But Winthrop House committee chair Kristen M. Galanek '95 complained that the house committees weren't given adequate notice of the change.

"The grant proposals had to be in at the beginning of the fall semester," she said. "That didn't give us much time to figure out what we needed."

Cabot House was lucky to find out about the new system, Lansky said.

"We were actually the only house that knew about this system," Lansky said. "And that was just because our secretary happens to be on the finance committee of the U.C."

Gregoire, however, maintained that the council's decision was proper.

"The U.C. is for campus-wide events," he said. "We have a different mandate than the house committees and a different source of funding. The houses are for house spirit, not for the campus as a whole."

It's that kind of reasoning that scares house committees. Many fear they will be at a disadvantage when applying for the grant funds, according to North House committee chair Katherine A. Woo '95.

"The U.C. is more into funding campus-wide activities than ones that just affect one house," she said. "So it seems like we would be at a disadvantage when we have to compete for money with student groups that sponsor campus-wide events."

But Gregoire said house committees wouldn't necessarily be at a disadvantage. In fact, the amount of money now available to the houses could exceed the number of extra dollars distributed in the past. Over the last two years, $11,000 and $8,000 were given to the houses in direct stipends, he said.

"They probably have a better chance of getting money through this process than they did before," he said. "We have $35,000 to give out in grants."

Undergraduate Council Treasurer Jay Kim '95 said the finance committee looks at two basic factors when reviewing grant proposals.

"The criteria are very flexible," he said. "We look mainly at two things, the contributions that the grant would make to the Harvard community and whether the group needs the money. So, we do favor campus-wide activities rather than those that benefit a segment of the University."

Cabot House applied for a grant for the Quad-wide formal, Lansky said.

"The request seemed justified because it would affect so many people," she said. "But of the $400 we requested, they only gave us $250. We'll still be able to put it on, but it just means that we're going to lose more money on it, which means we won't be able to do as many other things."

Recent Meeting

At the meeting two weeks ago between house committees and the council, various plans to help with the houses' financial burdens were discussed, Rocha said.

One option raised in the meeting was to include house committee funding on student term bills in the same way that the council gets money, Lansky said.

Galanek emphasized the need for the houses to take matters into their own hands.

"Winthrop was in the red a few years ago," Galanek said. "We had to do fundraising to get out of debt. We had to focus on having good events. I think that's what Cabot needs to do, work on having good events, not looking for handouts."

Gregoire agreed that the houses were going to have to look beyond the council to solve their financial problems.

"We just don't have the money to do anything about it right now," he said. "We're looking into the problem, though."

Cabot House has not been idle during its crisis, Lansky said.

"We've had fundraisers, very successful ones," she said. "But since we don't have much house spirit, we can't charge house dues, so we still have a hard time paying for events

"The grant proposals had to be in at the beginning of the fall semester," she said. "That didn't give us much time to figure out what we needed."

Cabot House was lucky to find out about the new system, Lansky said.

"We were actually the only house that knew about this system," Lansky said. "And that was just because our secretary happens to be on the finance committee of the U.C."

Gregoire, however, maintained that the council's decision was proper.

"The U.C. is for campus-wide events," he said. "We have a different mandate than the house committees and a different source of funding. The houses are for house spirit, not for the campus as a whole."

It's that kind of reasoning that scares house committees. Many fear they will be at a disadvantage when applying for the grant funds, according to North House committee chair Katherine A. Woo '95.

"The U.C. is more into funding campus-wide activities than ones that just affect one house," she said. "So it seems like we would be at a disadvantage when we have to compete for money with student groups that sponsor campus-wide events."

But Gregoire said house committees wouldn't necessarily be at a disadvantage. In fact, the amount of money now available to the houses could exceed the number of extra dollars distributed in the past. Over the last two years, $11,000 and $8,000 were given to the houses in direct stipends, he said.

"They probably have a better chance of getting money through this process than they did before," he said. "We have $35,000 to give out in grants."

Undergraduate Council Treasurer Jay Kim '95 said the finance committee looks at two basic factors when reviewing grant proposals.

"The criteria are very flexible," he said. "We look mainly at two things, the contributions that the grant would make to the Harvard community and whether the group needs the money. So, we do favor campus-wide activities rather than those that benefit a segment of the University."

Cabot House applied for a grant for the Quad-wide formal, Lansky said.

"The request seemed justified because it would affect so many people," she said. "But of the $400 we requested, they only gave us $250. We'll still be able to put it on, but it just means that we're going to lose more money on it, which means we won't be able to do as many other things."

Recent Meeting

At the meeting two weeks ago between house committees and the council, various plans to help with the houses' financial burdens were discussed, Rocha said.

One option raised in the meeting was to include house committee funding on student term bills in the same way that the council gets money, Lansky said.

Galanek emphasized the need for the houses to take matters into their own hands.

"Winthrop was in the red a few years ago," Galanek said. "We had to do fundraising to get out of debt. We had to focus on having good events. I think that's what Cabot needs to do, work on having good events, not looking for handouts."

Gregoire agreed that the houses were going to have to look beyond the council to solve their financial problems.

"We just don't have the money to do anything about it right now," he said. "We're looking into the problem, though."

Cabot House has not been idle during its crisis, Lansky said.

"We've had fundraisers, very successful ones," she said. "But since we don't have much house spirit, we can't charge house dues, so we still have a hard time paying for events