Questions Surround Found Council Funds

College officials said yesterday that they have repeatedly informed the Undergraduate Council that it had $40,000 extra in its University account, but as they debated how to spend it, council officials vigorously denied they ever knew of the money.

Council President Beth A. Stewart '00 announced the unexpected funds at Sunday night's council meeting. The money is the result of unused term-bill fees rolling over from year to year.

"The funds were available and [Council President] Beth Stewart was aware of them," Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III told The Crimson in an interview yesterday.

And according to Coordinator of Student Activities Susan T. Cooke, council treasurers are regularly "made aware of [their] balance" in addition to their annual term-bill revenues whenever they tap term-bill funds.

Council executives uniformly denied being told the total balance until this year.

"That is absolutely not true," Stewart said.

According to Stewart, the council did not receive a balance statement from the University until this year. In the past, she said, it had been notified of each year's term-bill revenues, but never of the amount remaining in their University account from previous years' term-bills.

Stewart said if she had known that the $40,000 existed, she would have used it.

"Last year I endured the horrible, horrible pain of having to retract a bid for a band" because of lack of funds, she said. "If there were any way to avoid that, we would have."

Last spring the council tried to bring the band Sister Hazel to Springfest, but Harvard was outbid by another college.

At the time, Stewart blamed the council's inability to secure the band on a "continuing and debilitating funding problem."

Cooke said that Stewart, who served as council treasurer until she was elected president in December of last year, had been notified of the balance whenever she drew funds from the University account.

"In her role as Treasurer of the UC last year, Beth frequented the office with check requests and learned of the balance of the

account, which had accumulated approximately $40,000 over and above the annual term bill distribution," Cooke wrote in an e-mail message.

According to Council Treasurer John A. Burton '01, the council makes check requests "after every major council allocation" such as those for the first-year formal and Thanksgiving shuttle buses.

And he remained adamant that Cooke had never told him about the forgotten $40,000.

"She has never told me the balance before," said Burton, who is serving his second semester as treasurer. "I've never asked her about the balance, but she never told me."

Lamelle D. Rawlins '99, Stewart's predecessor as council president, said she had never been told of the balance's existence either, though she was aware that some term-bill roll-over from previous years existed.

Regardless of whether treasurers were told of the account balance in the past, under a new system implemented by Cooke this year, all groups will be told of their balance in writing.

"This year, statements of University accounts were distributed at the financial seminars for presidents and treasurers of student organizations," Cooke said.

Stewart said she received the council's balance statement at that meeting approximately a month ago but did not make the balance public until last week because she wanted to discuss it with the council's new executive board before releasing the information.

Epps said that the fact that the $40,000 was forgotten represents an "internal problem" with the council's accounting system because, according to Epps, the council should have kept track of the rollover from year to year itself.

Dollars for Dave

Last night, however, council representatives were less concerned with whether the money was hidden than with what to do with it now.

Members of the Campus Life Committee (CLC) said at Sunday's council meeting they may propose using the money to bring the Dave Matthews Band to campus for Springfest.

The band is currently appearing at colleges for reduced rates as part of their college tour.

The council would try to earn back their money by selling tickets.

"The bid would have to go out Monday to have any shot at getting the band," said CLC chair Ryan E. Dorris '00.

Last night the council's Student Activities Committee voted not to consider a similar proposal which would have used the funds to bid for the band and then replaced them with money recouped from ticket sales. Student groups would then use the money.

Nicholas J. Stone '00, Trevor S. Blake '00 and Stephen N. Smith '02 sponsored the proposal.

Instead, the executive board will consider what to do with the money at their meeting tomorrow and will bring a proposal to Sunday's council meeting

account, which had accumulated approximately $40,000 over and above the annual term bill distribution," Cooke wrote in an e-mail message.

According to Council Treasurer John A. Burton '01, the council makes check requests "after every major council allocation" such as those for the first-year formal and Thanksgiving shuttle buses.

And he remained adamant that Cooke had never told him about the forgotten $40,000.

"She has never told me the balance before," said Burton, who is serving his second semester as treasurer. "I've never asked her about the balance, but she never told me."

Lamelle D. Rawlins '99, Stewart's predecessor as council president, said she had never been told of the balance's existence either, though she was aware that some term-bill roll-over from previous years existed.

Regardless of whether treasurers were told of the account balance in the past, under a new system implemented by Cooke this year, all groups will be told of their balance in writing.

"This year, statements of University accounts were distributed at the financial seminars for presidents and treasurers of student organizations," Cooke said.

Stewart said she received the council's balance statement at that meeting approximately a month ago but did not make the balance public until last week because she wanted to discuss it with the council's new executive board before releasing the information.

Epps said that the fact that the $40,000 was forgotten represents an "internal problem" with the council's accounting system because, according to Epps, the council should have kept track of the rollover from year to year itself.

Dollars for Dave

Last night, however, council representatives were less concerned with whether the money was hidden than with what to do with it now.

Members of the Campus Life Committee (CLC) said at Sunday's council meeting they may propose using the money to bring the Dave Matthews Band to campus for Springfest.

The band is currently appearing at colleges for reduced rates as part of their college tour.

The council would try to earn back their money by selling tickets.

"The bid would have to go out Monday to have any shot at getting the band," said CLC chair Ryan E. Dorris '00.

Last night the council's Student Activities Committee voted not to consider a similar proposal which would have used the funds to bid for the band and then replaced them with money recouped from ticket sales. Student groups would then use the money.

Nicholas J. Stone '00, Trevor S. Blake '00 and Stephen N. Smith '02 sponsored the proposal.

Instead, the executive board will consider what to do with the money at their meeting tomorrow and will bring a proposal to Sunday's council meeting