After Year of Money Woes, Advocate Reorganizes

In December of 1996, on the eve of its 130th anniversary, the Advocate, Harvard's oldest literary magazine, found itself in deep financial trouble.

The organization owed several thousand dollars to its printer; its building was in need of renovation; it faced an impending battle with the University over the land that is the site of its building and relations with its trustees--alumni responsible for much of the organization's funding--were extremely poor.

To top things off, Advocate members returned from winter break to find their building flooded and without heat.

Five months later, the Advocate Executive Board, led by President Daley C. Haggar '98 and Publisher Charles C. Savage '98, succeeded in resolving these issues by a complete overhaul of the literary organization.

"The Advocate we inherited in January was a real mess," Savage said. "Next fall, in our [renovated] building, we will continue our new tradition of fiscal responsibility. We will work on a new constitution and maybe reorganize the executive board a little. I hope that this board will leave behind an Advocate which will be healthy and relevant well into the next century."

The Advocate, which publishes four issues a year, had accumulated a debt of $7,379 with its printer, Turley Publications. When Haggar, who is a former Crimson executive, explored possible remedies, she found that in the past the Advocate had relied heavily on its alumni for financial support.

"We had no relationship with our trustees, who are supposed to fund us. There was a lot of disorganization financially and structurally," Haggar said.

However, once the trustees saw that the current executive board was committed to reform, they lent their full support, according to Haggar.

The students are working to reform the organizations rules, as well as directly addressing their financial insecurity. Business Manager Jesse L. Margolis '99 has begun to seek revenue from advertisements, according to Haggar.

"On the micro-level, we started collecting dues in earnest and making sure people fulfilled their business requirements so that we could achieve a balanced budget," Savage said.

Advocate members are required to pay $25 or sell an advertisement or two subscriptions each semester. In late February, the executive board strictly enforced this policy which in previous years had been lax. If they fail to meet the requirements, members will have to redo the comp to retain membership.

In March, the Board of Trustees donated about $10,000, which paid off the organization's debt and fixed heating and plumbing problems in 21 Story St., the Advocate House.

The trustees declined to provide the additional $40,000 needed for complete renovations due to a dispute with the University over the Advocate's lease agreement.

Although the magazine owns its building, it leases the land from Harvard. Most of the other University-owned buildings on South St. will be vacated within the next few years. The University had begun to consider the possibility of turning the land into a new undergraduate housing complex.

The trustees sought a 50-year lease agreement when the Advocate's lease ran out last year. The University refused to sign such a long-term agreement, opting instead for a 15-year lease that gave it the option to relocate the Advocate to another campus property.

In April, Dean of the College Archie C. Epps III told The Crimson "It's almost certain that we'll sign a 15-year lease...If conditions change, and everybody understands that, it's not that you back out of the lease...but we will find a place for the Advocate at Harvard."

According to Haggar, "the trustees didn't want to put money into the building when land might be taken away," so they waited until the lease was revised. Signed late in April, the 15-year agreement prevents the University from requiring the Advocate to relocate at any time during the lease.

On Apr. 10, the trustees helped to boost the organization's finances by soliciting contributions from alumni at a posh New York cocktail party. The event was attended by the likes of Robert Bly '50, Louis Begley '54, Norman K. Mailer '43, Conan C. O'Brien '85 and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '38; alumni gave $50,000 to the Advocate.

Steven A. Ballmer '77, former Advocate publisher, member of the board of trustees and a former Crimson editor, matched the funds, bringing the total to about $100,000.

"Most of [the alumni] have a lot of happy memories," Haggar said. "Many of them went into business-oriented things. They look back and are happy to have been published. Some who did become writers remember it as the first place they were published."

Yet not everyone cited their literary experience at the Advocate as their most prominent memory.

"People remember the parties," Haggar added. "That's what Norman Mailer remembered."

But despite fond memories, Advocate executives said it was the students' innovative efforts that convinced alumni to contribute.

In addition to their financial reorganization, the students put on a benefit garden party in May to raise money for a new computer system and connection to the University's ethernet and key card access systems.

The garden party, in honor of Ballmer, featured readings by undergraduate authors.

"We wanted to give our writers some exposure," Haggar said. "Faber & Faber, a publishing firm, approached one of the readers and offered to give him advice."

Haggar does not predict increases in the Advocate's scale in future years, citing the importance of a small selective staff in maintaining the magazine's quality.

However, Haggar said she would like to see the Advocate in bookstores.

"That would be good money-wise, but more importantly would give us national exposure," Haggar said.

"This is the forum for literature here. We want people to see these up-and-coming authors," she added.