Funding Fiefdoms

There are 150 student groups on the Harvard Campus who will receive Undergraduate Council grants this year according to council treasurer Jeffrey A. Letalien '02. Which ones do you belong to? It's all-but-inevitable that you participate in at least one of them, even if that only means deleting their e-mails once a week. These student organizations, we are told, are the lifeblood of the campus, without which Harvard would sink into anti-social mediocrity.

Not so! While the council passed its budget this week--decrying the drop in student group funding for the next fiscal year--we must remind them that some student organizations should not be allowed to live it up at the student body's expense. Like first-years with their parents' credit cards, student groups also receive resources without accountability. Instead of granting the same number of groups fewer funds--keeping standards and expectations low--the council should extend a higher credit limit to fewer groups and spend more of our termbill money on campus-wide public goods.

For the record, it's not the termbill itself that is objectionable. In fact, Harvard students only pay the paltry sum of $20 to fund shuttles, Springfest and student groups. This amount has not been adjusted, even for inflation, since 1981. But at least 60 percent of the council's budget is granted to student groups. That wouldn't be so bad if that money was going toward a few deserving groups and events like Springfest which benefit the entire undergraduate community. But under the current system, some of the 12 dollars you spend on student groups goes to funding private fiefdoms.

Survival of the fittest. Scarce resources. These aren't just phrases from evolutionary biology, they are descriptions of the situation which would confront student organizations if the council focused the grants budget toward a few select groups. What doesn't kill the rest will only make them stronger. After the mass extinction, the survivors would roam the campus like giants, growing stronger and winning ever more resources. Like the two-party system, these large groups would reflect and absorb their disparate elements, forging a stronger, broader student community.

These groups would be healthy, vital organizations full of the pride that comes from earning a paycheck. And where would this paycheck come from? Student groups could charge dues like the Black Students' Association, others would run lotteries, appeal to alums, etc. Some would receive more money than they do now from a more rigorous--and more generous--council grant process in which they would actually have to prove their worth to the greater student body.

Of course, there are some organizations for whom it would be a real hardship to raise funds. Community service organizations come to mind as groups that should not be forced to fundraise to foot their bill. Groups that serve the campus or community at large are like non-profits that rely on philanthropy to support their important activities. But some groups are simply freeloaders with an incentive to stay on termbill-sponsored welfare indefinitely.

The Arnold Cultural Society (ACS), which operates out of the Sigma Chi basement, is a case in point. When the ACS receives $450 of our termbill money to buy a DVD player, Schwarzenegger films and refreshments, it is obvious that the council is a little too free with its funds. It's not that these groups don't have a place on our campus, they just shouldn't be guaranteed our dollars.

Right now any student group can sign up first-years en masse and get at least a couple hundred bucks. That means most of your termbill is spent on start-ups, small organizations which probably won't survive long after their founding members have graduated. In fact, many of them are started specifically to suit the individual needs--official titles and free pizza being two of the most common--of the founders.

Look, let's not slash the council budget. Let's simply reallocate it in a fairer manner. How about free pizza for everyone? Or, a Springfest that highlights a couple different bands representing different music genres? And if it's really only titles that students want, some enterprising student group could make a killing auctioning them off to the highest bidder.

So, it's up to you and your council representative. Where do you want your money to go? To some organization only created so that one of your peers could occupy a resume-enhancing position, or to a campus-wide event everyone can enjoy? Call me silly, but I prefer Springfest to Schwarzenegger.

Meredith B. Osborn '02 is a social studies concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.