Council Pledges $25K Towards Student Center

It took five months, a survey and countless dining hall conversations. But the $40,000 question has finally been answered.

After three hours of debate on other bills, the council quickly voted to allocate $25,000 of the infamous surplus--discovered in a forgotten account last fall--towards the construction of a student center.

$10,000 will be used to create a grant fund for campus-wide events, and the remaining $5,000 will be used to buy a new sound system.

The council arrived at its decisions after learning the results of a survey conducted last week about what to do with the money. The survey presented eight options for the money, ranging from extra support for Springfest to new exercise machines for the Malkin Athletic Center.

According to the survey, using the money towards a student center is the most popular option, with 42.6 percent of those polled ranking it as their first choice.

"It's pretty clear that the student center is the choice of students," said Ryan E. Dorris '00, the legislation's co-sponsor.

Council member Samuel C. Cohen '00 said the $25,000 gesture is intended as a symbolic statement about the need for a student center, which would need much more money before it is built.

"What it says to the administration is that we're willing to put our money behind it and not just asking the University to put their money behind it," said Cohen, who also co-sponsored the bill.

He said the $10,000 will be used to establish a fund for special events will help increase campus unity.

"It's very important to have that fund out there," Cohen said. "It will provide for big events that bring people together on campus."

The new sound system will be available to student groups in addition to the outdated one the council currently uses. About one percent of those polled voted for a system as their first choice.

However, Cohen argued that it is a necessary expenditure.

"It's a small allocation, no one really thinks of it," Cohen said. "But it will probably get more use than anything else we could have done," he continued.

The council also tackled a bill brought by Alexis B. Karteron '01, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence. The bill, which passed with an amendment, called for improved advocacy programs, the creation of a women's center and dismissal of students the Administrative Board rules guilty of rape.

"If you are raped here at Harvard, you don't know where to go to," said coalition member Nilufar Hossain '00, adding her group wants to consolidate the available resources.

A lengthy debate surrounded the amendment, which was proposed by council President Noah Z. Seton '00 and Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00.

The amendment suggested changing the bill to recommend the proposals as the council's own, rather than simply supporting the coalition's demands. It also altered several of the bill's proposals.

Seton and Redmond said the amendment was designed so the council could support the issue more strongly.

"It's important for the U.C. to say something on it's own on this issue," Seton said. "Many people care about this issue...We have to do more than just supporting another group."

But coalition and council members said the amendment diverged too much from the bill's intentions.

"It would detract from what the coalition is trying to do," said John Paul Rollert '00. "With this amendment, the U.C. comes first and the coalition comes later."

A part of the amendment that proposed creating a rape crisis center in conjunction with University Health Services (UHS) drew the most fire from the coalition.

"We definitely do not envision a room in the basement of UHS that no one knows about," Karteron said. "People don't want to go to UHS when they have the flu, let alone when they've been raped."

The bill passed with Seton and Redmond's amendment, despite pleas from coalition members and Karteron's withdrawal of her support of the bill.

Hossain said she did not object to the part of the amendment giving more authorship to the council, though she did disagree with its changes to the coalition's proposals.

" Our problem is that it's been changed so that now it's detrimental," Hossain said after the meeting. "It is going against everything that we've been working for this year."