Darfur Aid Plan Advances

Responding to organized student pressure, at least two of Harvard’s graduate schools have agreed to allow students and affiliates to use Crimson Cash to support peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan.

But, as of last night, Harvard College administrators had not decided whether they would let undergraduates donate Crimson Cash or leftover money on their BoardPlus accounts to the cause.

Officials at Harvard Law School (HLS) and the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) confirmed yesterday that the schools had independently decided to install machines on their campuses at which students can input the amount of Crimson Cash they want to donate.

KSG Senior Associate Dean Joseph McCarthy said that the school would support the program, which he called a “noble idea.”

“I’ve consulted with others in the school, and we’re going forward with it,” said McCarthy, who is also director of degree programs at the KSG. “At the moment it’s just a matter of when they can wire [the machines].”

HLS Director of Communications Michael A. Armini also confirmed yesterday that Dean of HLS Elena Kagan had approved the installation of the machines.

Officials contacted yesterday could not provide a specific description of the machines, but expect that students at HLS and the KSG will have the option of donating cash perhaps as soon as next week.

Deputy Dean of Harvard College Patricia O’Brien said last night that the College had yet to decide whether to give undergraduates the option to use their Crimson Cash and leftover BoardPlus money for charity.

“It’s an important initiative, and we’re open to it,” she said.

On Monday night, a student-led group started an online petition, at www.harvardinvest.com, to show support for the option of using dining plan money to fund peacekeeping in Darfur. As of 11:30 last night, 2,779 people—roughly half of whom are undergraduates, the other half students at Harvard’s graduate schools—had placed their names on the petition.

The students pushing for the option to donate BoardPlus or Crimson Cash to aid the situation in Darfur say the money will go to the Genocide Intervention Fund (GIF), which provides logistical support to troops monitoring the shaky year-old cease-fire in the region in western Sudan. The Darfur government has sanctioned the actions of militia groups that have killed tens of thousands of residents there.

The petition organizers—led by Thomas D. Hadfield ’08, KSG student Chad J. Hazlett, and Rebecca J. Hamilton, who is a joint-degree candidate at the KSG and HLS—met on Wednesday with Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) Executive Director Ted A. Mayer to discuss the possibilities of using the extra BoardPlus for GIF.

HUDS Communications Coordinator Jami Snyder, speaking for Mayer, said the decision was not up to HUDS.

“At the end of the day, we’re here to help carry out the decision that Tom [Hadfield] reaches with the College,” she said. “We’re just the middle man, so to speak.”

According to O’Brien, she will meet with the petition organizers and Mayer on Monday.

“We think it’s an important cause, one that the University has taken a dramatic stance on by divesting,” she said. “We’re sympathetic, but I need to talk to the organizers first.”

She added that the College is considering using Crimson Cash as well as BoardPlus, since only two-thirds of students typically have money left on their BoardPlus accounts at the end of the year.

O’Brien also said she will speak with Dean of Harvard College Benedict H. Gross ’71, who is currently on a brief medical leave, to discuss the College’s stance.

Hadfield said that he hopes for a University-wide decision on how to let students use Crimson Cash and BoardPlus.

Hadfield, Hazlett, and Hamilton said that the GSE has also opted to install machines allowing its students to donate their Crimson Cash to GIF, but a GSE spokesman could not confirm this development as of last night.

“The University has never moved so quickly,” Hadfield said, adding that the organizers had a “responsibility to keep the momentum.”

Harvard students can add value to their Crimson Cash accounts through a website or at deposit machines and access the funds with their Harvard IDs. Crimson Cash can be used at HUDS-operated restaurants and at many stores in the Harvard area.

At the beginning of each term, undergraduates also receive $50 of BoardPlus—a separate debit account that can be spent at HUDS-operated restaurants and for guest meals in dining halls.

BoardPlus, unlike Crimson Cash, is reset to zero at the end of the school year regardless of surplus funds. Leftover money is deposited into HUDS’s reserves.

—Staff writer Daniel J. T. Schuker can be reached at dschuker@fas.harvard.edu.