College Awards $17,000 in 'Impact Grants' to Two Dozen Student Groups

After intensive lobbying efforts by the Undergraduate Council, the College is increasingly showing students the money, in the form of a $25,000 student activities grants budget offered by the College for the first time this year.

But as two dozen lucky student groups who received grants this semester bound off to tournaments and conferences, some students say the fund is not enough to meet student need.

The recipients--from the Mozart Society Orchestra to the Funk Appreciation Society--were selected from a pool of 88 applications for their "impact" on the College community. About $17,000 of the fund has been distributed thus far.

"We reviewed each of the grants with an eye toward large events or significant purchases that would impact the campus," says Undergraduate Council President Beth A. Stewart '00.

Stewart and Council Vice President Samuel C. Cohen '00 served on this semester's committee, which also included Student Activities Coordinator Susan T. Cooke, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68. Next semester the remaining funds, about $8,000, will be distributed.

Performance groups and publications received 11 of the grants, while others got funding because they bring glory to the Harvard name through intercollegiate competitions.

"The chess team, for example, is bringing Harvard's talent in competition with others of our colleague institutions," Cooke says. "We want to allow Harvard to participate in competitions."

Averaging from $500 to $1,000, the impact grants are bigger than those offered by the Undergraduate Council, which has been the primary source of funding for most groups.

"We have recognized that the U.C. has been able to give only small, democratic grants of about $250," Cooke says.

Student group leaders have often complained that the smaller Undergraduate Council grants do not meet their needs. The new fund was established in response to student demand, and according to Cooke, is intended to "complement" council grants.

"Our grants from the Undergraduate Council, although they help out, we couldn't depend on them as our only source of funding," says South Asian Association (SAA) President Amit N. Doshi '00. "There are a lot of students who apply for the council grants so its understandable that it's tough for them to spend a good amount on everyone.

The $1,000 that SAA received from the student activities fund will sponsor a literature discussion series featuring speakers on South Asian issues.

Money form the College's fund is also paying for a coach for the Harvard Cheerleading Team.

"We couldn't really have a coach without [the funds] and we couldn't stunt without a coach," says Cheerleading President Virginia S. Fuller '00. "This year, we're going to be competing for the first time ever."

The $500 grant will cover half the coach's salary; the athletic department is chipping in the other half.

The team also receives money from the Undergraduate Council, according to Fuller, but not enough to pay for a coach.

"We got money to pay for the big flag that the guy runs around the stadium with, she says.

Left Out in the Cold

But while some groups have hit the jackpot with these big grants, their larger size means that fewer organizations share the wealth.

"I know very few people who did get any money from them," says S. Madiha Murshed '99, the director of BHUMI, an organization which sets up internships in developing countries for students. BHUMI was turned down for funding.

"It's a little bit disappointing because [college officials] talked a lot about the fund last semester," Murshed says. "It was surprising that we didn't get money, and they didn't tell us why."

Other leaders say they understand the College's decision to deny them funding.

"Many other groups on campus have fewer opportunities to raise money," says Hippocratic Society President F. Edward Boas '99, who is seeking money for a conference on genetic technology in the spring. The Hippocratic Society receives grants from corporations and from Harvard's academic departments.

Asking for More

Stewart says she hopes forcing the College to turn down needy groups will convince them to provide greater funding.

"The only way they'll be able to understand the dearth of funds on this campus is if they're personally flooded with application," Stewart says.

Incoming Council President Noah Z. Seton '00 advocated doubling the size of the grants fund to $50,000 during his presidential campaign, and says the issue is a top priority.

"$25,000 still leaves us below other schools' level of funding," Seton says. "There have been groups that were not able to get grants as high as they requested or at all."

But as the council battles for more money for student groups, it is also increasingly giving up control over how those grants are distributed.

While the council itself was established to distribute funds to students, the control over the new $25,000 lies in the hands of the administrative committee, which includes three administrators and the council president and vice president.

"That was part of the deal," says Seton. "The College wanted to have a say over where the grants would go and they wanted to give them out in larger blocks."

Student leaders downplay the significance of University involvement.

Stewart says that with only a few exceptions, the committee chose the same groups for grants that she and Cohen would have chosen.

"Ideally you want things in student hands but sometimes it ends up being more strategic to do it this way," she says, noting that the committee gives administrators a chance to see student need first-hand.

And student group leaders say the new money does not detract from the funds distributed by the council.

"It's just an additional source of funding," Doshi says. "It's not as if we can't go to the U.C. and get funds from them."

Seton adds that extracurricular groups have always received money from non-council sources, such as the Harvard Foundation and the Office for the Arts.

And some groups say administrators might be more even-handed than the council in their decision-making.

"I think it's nice that they're administrators and people removed from the peer situation," says Fuller. "I trust the U.C. to a certain extent, but especially in terms of our group, a lot of people have this innate prejudice against cheerleaders because we're supposed to be stupid or something."

With so many student groups and so little money to go around, Seton says the quantity is more important than the source.

"I would rather see the council have more rather than less control," he says. "[But] there wasn't much of a fight when the $25,000 proposal came down, because it seems like a reasonable suggestion. It was their money."