Radcliffe Trust Awards Student Group Grants

The Committee to Advise the Ann Radcliffe Trust voted last Monday to award 11 student groups a total of $5,450 from the Ann Radcliffe Trust.

Groups receiving funding in this round include the Harvard Islamic Society, the Harvard Tampoon, the Multicultural Issues Forum, Take Back the Night and Radcliffe Rugby, among others.

This is the first year the Ann Radcliffe Trust has awarded grants.

Alexis B. Karteron '01, a member of the committee organizing Take Back the Night, says the trust is the committee's biggest source of funding, although the event also receives financial support from other sources, including the Undergraduate Council and the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies.

Karteron said most of the money from the trust's grant will go toward advertising for the Take Back the Night event in April.

According to Zayed M. Yasin '02, president of the Harvard Islamic Society, grant money from the trust will also help to sponsor this weekend's "Islam in America" conference at Harvard which includes the forum "Muslim Women as Leaders in America: Precedents and Present Day."

"The Ann Radcliffe Trust has been a very good source of funding," Yasin said.

Aruna D. Balakrishnan '03, a member of the subcommittee making last Monday's grant decisions, said the applications were evaluated based on whether they promised to raise awareness of women's issues.

"We asked how well the goal of the organization's event or idea falls in line with the Ann Radcliffe Trust's mission statement," Balakrishnan said.

Though several individual students applied, only student groups were awarded money last week from the Trust. According to Karen E. Avery '87, assistant dean of the College and director of the trust, the trust does not grant money to individuals unaffiliated with organizations.

"There just aren't enough funds to give to all the great individual research," Avery said.

Over $15,000 has been available this year for grants from the trust. This week's vote concluded the third of four rounds of grants this year.