MONEY IS EVERYTHING

Across America, the recession has hit hard. Ivy League universitiesare no exception. At Brown and Yale students and administrators have found out that even in the Tower...

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--When students at Ivy League colleges take over buildings, there's usually a war or a racial issue at stake.

But at Brown University this year, the conflict was about something less abstract: money.

Five weeks ago, the calm of the campus green was shattered by 300 student protesters chanting "Need blind now."

The center of the controversy was Brown's abandonment of need-blind admissions policy--its consideration of the financial backgrounds of applicants in deciding who gets into the college. The disruption culminated in a nine-hour student occupation of Brown's University Hall.

The protest made national headlines when university police arrested 291 of the undergraduates and charged them with disrupting university employees and occupying a school building.

Classes have since ended at Brown and most of the students have left. The immediate confrontation between the administration and the students disappeared with the graduating seniors.

But the issue of need-blind admissions remains. Next year, Brown will once again conduct its admissions only after carefully scrutinizing the financial needs of its applicants.

And all across the country, students, financial aid directors and university administrators will be locked in a struggle over aid dollars and institution's budgets.

Brown Executive Vice President Robert A. Reichley says the need-blind crisis is not endemic to his university. He blames the government for failing to establish a proper plan to finance higher education.

"The government has no plan for the future," Reichley says. "Private institutions have picked up more and more of the financial aid dollar."

Ironically, students blame Brown administrators for the same failings.

Reichley says that the problem, part of a national financial crunch for higher education, will eventually come to Harvard.

"The issue of financial aid is a national problem," Reichley says. "Even the wealthiest institutions, including Harvard, know they have to deal with it."

Harvard spokesperson Peter Costa says the need-blind policy will continue indefinitely.

"Even during the tough economic times we have increased aid to students," he says. "We plan to continue to be need-blind."

Still, it won't be easy. While Harvard College admissions are need-blind, some of Harvard's poorer graduate schools are unable to maintain such an expensive policy. The University will make financial aid dollars a major priority in its upcoming capital campaign, administrators say.

Harvard and other institutions can concentrate on raising money for future needs, but Brown will have to deal with the reverberations of the recent crisis.

During the height of the siege, demonstrators gathered in the Corporation Room, the inner sanctum of Brown's governing body. There they demanded an immediate $50 million increase in Brown's capital campaign, with the money designated to return student admissions to a need-blind status.

Brown officials do not object to a need-blind goal, but administrators and student protesters still sharply disagree over the university's ability to increase its capital campaign from $450 to $500 million.

Executives say that a $50 million increase devoted entirely to financial aid is impossible.

"After polling and researching alumni across the country for the last three years, we set a realistic goal of $450 million," Reichley said. "An Extra $50 million is ridiculous. There is no way we could raise that amount of money."

Reichley says the $40 million already earmarked for undergraduate financial aid will be hard to raise.

"Even if we raise an extra $50 million, we don't know what it will be directed towards. We have other competing needs," Reichley says, adding that all campaign goals are below the desired amount.

"The president will not make false promises," he says.

But members of Students for Aid and Minority Admissions (SAMA) claim that the university can indeed raise the additional money.

"They don't have a plan to make it a reality," says senior Gregory F. Winter, who was inside the building from 8:30 a.m. until the arrests shortly after 5 p.m.

"The university says it is committed to need-blind admissions, but history says it is untrue," he says. "They can raise their goal. ninety million dollars (for undergraduate financial aid) is feasible."

Winter notes that the capital campaign could be extended beyond the projected three years if necessary.

Reichley says he has not ruled out attaining need-blind admissions eventually, but admitted that it is unlikely to be achieved anytime soon.

"Students wanted full need-blind admissions," he says. "It is a goal over the long haul, but not in the foreseeable future."

But protesters say a need-blind admissions goal is an immediate need because of the negative impact the current policy has on the student body.

Jeffrey A. Albert, who was handcuffed and jailed for a short time, says need-aware admissions detracts from a diverse student body.

"Racial and economic diversity are bunk with need-aware admissions," Albert says. "It is the opposite of the policy Brown claims to have."

Winter says that the current situation actually adds to racial tension on campus because white students see themselves as competing with minorities for the limited existing financial aid funds.

"It translates into a racial struggle on campus," Winter says. "As we were marching, I heard a white student yell, 'Pay your own way, you poor bastards.' It definitely fosters racism."

But Reichley notes that the need-aware policy is not essential to a diverse class, adding that the class of 1996 is the most diverse in history.

"The next class is 29 percent minority," Reichley says. "Are the chances that it would be better if we considered everyone? Sure. But it costs money to do that."

Reichley says that if the university devoted more money to financial aid, other facets would suffer, turning Brown into a second-rate institution.

"Access then becomes moot because it is access to a mediocre plan," Reichley says. "We must maintain the faculty and the library. That's why financial aid is not our first priority."

While no one disputes that SAMA's goals are noble, most administrators and many students objected to the means of expression.

"I've been here for 24 years and I've never seen a situation quite like this one," Reichley says.

"They were out of control. No question. I was quite fearful for my safety," adds Reichley, who negotiated with students in University Hall during the takeover.

The vice president says the "out of control" protest may actually backfire and cause alumni to donate less money to financial aid.

"It runs the risk of turning people off," Reichley says. "I've already seen letters from alumni outraged by this."

"To take over the building, what is the point?" says Associate Registrar Michael J. Pesta, who watched students flood the registrar's office, push secretaries and answer the phones.

But Winter argues that the protest raised national consciousness, and will increase financial aid donations in the long run.

"We will see more money coming in," he says. "The issue of need-blind admissions is placed on the agenda as it never has been before."

And Winter says the issue will surely remain on the agenda.

"The struggle and pressure will continue," Winter says. "SAMA will not end with the semester. Brown still has a need-aware admissions policy, don't they?"