A Wide Range of Avenues

Almost all undergraduate organizations devote a lot of their energies to financing concerns, but minority groups on campus have unusual difficulties finding money.

Because of their comparatively short history at Harvard, minorities lack the traditional sources of strong alumni support enjoyed by better established groups. As a result, minorities have been more dependent on the College itself for funding.

In the past year, the picture for these clubs has brightened. Harvard has taken steps to help all needy organizations with financing, setting up the College's first student government. And minority groups have been major beneficiaries of the process. Of the $9,000 awarded by the council so far, close to $2,400 went to five minority organizations. The council will soon begin processing requests for spring term grants totaling more than $22,000. Nine minority groups are among the 52 organizations that have filed applications.

In addition, several avenues aimed specifically at minority groups have sprung up. Last spring, the University also set up the Harvard Foundation, an administrative body formed in 1981 to foster improved campus race relations. And several other sources have offered part of their money to these clubs.

In general, leaders of the minority student organizations are pleased with the new wells of cash but have some specific complaints, political as well as bureaucratic, about the hoops they feel they have to jump through to get the funds.

The Harvard Foundation allocated more than $5,000 last fall and plans to spend close to $15,000 on students projects this spring. While the money need not go to minority groups, it must be used to foster improved campus race relations or appreciation of minority cultures, according to S Allen Counter, the Foundation's director.

Some minority groups have chosen to boycott the Foundation for political reasons. Last fall, the Black Students' Association (BSA) and three other Black student groups decided against requesting money from the Foundation based on ongoing criticism of its operation and purpose. Since its formation, the Foundation has drawn similar opposition from a variety of campus minorities who considered it an inadequate response to their desire for a full-fledged Third World Center.

Curtis Hairston'84, president of the BSA, says his organization still has no plans to seek funds from the Foundation because "it is still not addressing the needs of Black students on campus." While the Foundation is designed to increase racial interaction, it does not provide the type of institutionalized support system that Black students need, Hairston says.

Other minority groups, however, have opted to work with the Foundation, despite some disagreement with its philosophy. Andrew S. Ting '83, former president of the Asian-American Association, says that while his group would like to see a Third World Center established, they would not boycott the Foundation.

"We're not going to cut off our noses to spite our faces," says Ting. Last semester Ting's group received $1,000 from the Foundation for a Japanese theater production. The Foundation has also provided funding to American Indians at Harvard, as well as an Asian American women's group, and several Latin American cultural and health organizations.

Counter says he believes that the Foundation controversies surrounding last fall are "all over now." He added that he has not been opposed to the concept of a Third World Center but that the Foundation was set up to serve different purposes that those a cultural center would meet.

A more established source of funding for undergraduate projects is Radcliffe's Education for Action program. Last fall, that office budgeted almost $5,000 for student proposals, most of which were minority projects. According to Radcliffe officials, Education for Action's commitment to promote social change has traditionally translated into support for numerous minority groups and individual student proposals. Officials add that the total amount distributed by the Radcliffe office changes each year, depending on demand.

Minority groups have also received money for projects from a variety of less publicized organizations. Radcliffe College has financed some minorities' efforts, as have several academic departments and graduate schools, the Office of Career Services and Career Learning, and various house committees. Overall, these sources of funding together with the new funds available from the Council and the Foundation, have increased the chances for minority groups to gain at least partial support by college sources.

Nevertheless, financing activities continue to create headaches for many leaders of campus minority groups. Ironically, the trouble stems partly from the proliferation of funding sources. For example, the Radcliffe Union of Students used to give about $6000 a year to student groups--many of which were minorities. But they have since imposed restrictions on their once generous policy. The change stems from an Undergraduate council regulation stipulating that it will only allocate funds to a group if the organization has exhausted its other resources. Sharon J Orr '83 says that "it would be inequitable if RUS exhausts all its funds before the Undergraduate Council spends its money."

In general, grant seeking has become more complicated, as each funding organization attempts to ensure that it is not the sole provider for particular undergraduate groups.

More substantive complaints are directed not at the logistics, but the philosophy of seeking outside funding for student groups. Several undergraduate minority leaders argue that groups should not have to plow through the red tape but should instead receive a guarantee in favor of lump-sum funding Ting notes that whenever his group undertakes a project. "I worry all the time if it is economically feasible."

Hairston agrees that a regular practice of direct lump sum funding would be an improvement over the current process of individual project evaluations saying that it would help balance the disparity between traditional organizations and newly created minority groups which have more limited alumni support. While he does not advocate a special fund exclusively for minority groups. Hairston adds that the best solution to the funding solution would be the creation of "a larger pie" to divide among all student organizations.