Foundation To Award Spring Grants

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations will award nearly $22,000 in grants to student groups this spring, an amount that several persons involved with the process said may be the largest amount of money the Foundation has given in a single round.

The Foundation gave $18,000 in grants last semester.

Dean of Continuing Education Michael Shinagel, one of the five Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) members who approved the grant decisions, said the increase was logical in view of the increasing number of cultural student groups.

"Every year there are more organizations that I believe are doing more interesting and worthwhile things," Shinagel said.

"It's almost inevitable that the reward would go up," he added.

Thirty-eight student groups submitted a total of 99 grant requests this round, said Kenneth N. Ebie '01, co-chair of the Foundation's Student Advisory Committee (SAC).

While nearly all of the requests were approved, at least in part, Ebie said several were rejected because they did not align with the Foundation's guidelines, which sponsors events "designed to promote racial awareness and understanding in the Harvard community and to highlight the cultural contributions of students from all backgrounds."

Others were rejected because group representatives failed to present their proposal, as required, or because they were plans for film festivals, which the Foundation funds through a program specifically created for the viewing of films.

Recent events sponsored by the Foundation include the Taiwanese Cultural Society's WinterFest food festival and the "Hate Crimes in America" panel.

Ebie said some of this semester's requests were refreshingly unique.

"The German Society, which applied for its first grant this time, applied for an Oktoberfest celebration in the spring, which I thought was very interesting," Ebie said.

SAC Secretary Nina S. Sawyer '01 said more of the groups are proposing joint events. She cited as examples a Southeast Asian cultural night, planned by four or five different cultural groups, as well as a joint event about the African diaspora.

"We're really excited and encouraged by this," Sawyer said. "These are opportunities for the different groups to focus on their commonalities as well as their unique elements."

The groups will be notified of the Foundation's decisions next week.

--Staff writer Juliet J. Chung can be reached at jchung@fas.harvard.edu.