Circumventing Bureaucracy

Recent scandals and financial fiascos have generated much legitimate criticism against Harvard's pathetic student government, the Undergraduate Council.

Last spring, Crimson polls confirmed students' widespread dissatisfaction with the council. For example, the majority of students did not support last spring's attempt at a council fee hike (from $20 to $30 annually). Furthermore, only 45.7 percent of surveyed students could name even two events sponsored by the council.

Yet the council disregarded student sentiment and tried to push through the $60,000 increase in revenue anyway. Indeed, it took the efforts of a political dynamo and former council member, Anjalee C. Davis '96, to have the council's decision put to a College-wide referendum so that students would have a final say in the matter. This raises serious questions about whose interests the council really represents.

The council's annual $120,000 budget is currently derived from student contributions of $20 each. This is an optional contribution and each student has the right to withhold it.

Theoretically, the refund process is straightforward. Students simply check a box on their term bill and then write a brief letter to Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III stating their desire to receive a refund. This works fine unless students decide to request a refund later in the year, when they discover (or are reminded) exactly how their money is being wasted.

Council members openly appreciate the complexities of the official refund process as a convenient way to safeguard their money from the desperate clutches of its angry former owners. The current two-step refund process is useful in making it "more difficult" for students get a full refund, admits council Vice President Joshua D. Liston '95.

According to a council report on the student activities fee, it is true that, "while not all students would wish to contribute the full fee, all students would benefit in some capacity." Clearly, our elected representatives don't want students to have an easy way to get all their money back.

Since the council fee is supposedly an optional charge, the current refund process is clearly unfair--indeed, shamefully so. The council taxes students systematically, often without their knowledge. Unless students carefully read their term bill, they end up paying the fee without even noticing.

Since the council fee is supposedly optional, the current refund process is unfair.

I decided to ask a few first-years if they realized that the council was skimming money off the top of their term bill, by demanding the innocuous-sounding Undergraduate Council fee. The response of Roy Edwards '98 was typical: "What Undergraduate Council fee?"

This survey, while informal and unscientific, suggests that the council is not doing a very good job of informing students that it is quietly grabbing a small sum each time they pay a term bill.

Their is an easy way to reclaim your money from the incompetent and deceitful council.

Once students spend some time on campus and realize the various ways the council mismanages their money, their attempts to get a full refund of the fee are thwarted at every turn by unfulfilled promises and unanswered letters.

"I never participate in [council]-sponsored activities and did not even know I was paying for them," says Sung H. Nam '95. "Now I have wasted money and it is really a [expletive deleted] hassle to get it back." Making it difficult to obtain the refund of a hidden tax is certainly not in the true spirit of what student government should be doing. "The current refund system is a pain in the neck," says Mark C. Alonge '96. "They make you write a letter and then never get back to you."

After four semesters of seeking a way to foil the council's "optional" tax scheme, I recently stumbled across one. It is possible, I have learned, to get around the ridiculous refund procedure and finally reclaim your money from the incompetent and deceitful council.

At the beginning of the academic year, when paying tuition, students need only deduct $20 from their term bills and explain to the billing office the reason for doing so. The office will automically deduct $16.67 of the $20 council fee for you. Then one of Harvard's 10 student billing representatives will take care of the rest, including writing the official letter to Dean Epps's office for the final $3.33 refund.

In fact, if students wish to get refunds from past years, this is possible too. One need only deduct the appropriate amount from the term bill and include a brief explanation with the bill. For example, a junior who has never claimed his refunds could have deducted $60 this fall, including $40 for the past two years and $20 for this year.

This should come as a welcome relief to those of us who have written countless letters and made numerous phone calls to Dean Epps's office and the council, only to end up frustrated.

Getting a refund is now simple and efficient--if you know the trick. You can kill two birds with one stone: the council will no longer waste your money and you will no longer be forced to waste time making it happen.

Evan Pearce '96 (formerly known as Evan P. Cucci) has invested the $60 he recently regained in high-risk derivatives.