Discipline for A Not-So-Model U.N.

A group of Harvard undergraduates who put on two conferences a year, modeled after the proceedings of the United Nations, to teach high school and college students about the ins and outs of international diplomacy, ran into a little trouble this year.

At a U.N. conference in December, the Harvard students spent more than $5000 on hotel, restaurant, liquor, entertainment and additional cash expenses in the course of a four-day weekend. The fare included items like $560 for a dinner in a Boston restaurant for Harvard staff and $840 in petty cash.

The affair came out in the open when three members of the organization wrote, at the request of Archie C. Epps II, dean of students, a report that cited "a growing tendency" by the Undergraduates involved "to spend U.N. money on items not necessary to the running of the conference."

After the report came out, Epps appointed a special committee to investigate the matter and then put the organization under a set of strictures unprecedented for a Harvard undergraduate organization, including an annual administration audit of its finances and a graduate secretary who will co-sign vouchers in the future.

The leaders of the U.N. conferences were furious about the measures and said that all their expenses were justified by their hard work on the December conference, that Epps was treating them unfairly.

For his part, Epps said, "I have been disappointed with the lack of ethical principles in decision-making."