Faculty Council Votes For Term Bill Increase

The Faculty Council voted at its meeting yesterday to recommend that the Faculty raise the Undergraduate Council's optional term-bill fee to $35 from its current level of $20, a move that would overturn the results of a student-wide referendum held last year.

The Faculty Council also voted to recommend that the Faculty give the dean of the College the responsibility to make future adjustments to the level of the fee.

Both recommendations, which are non-binding, must gain final approval from the Faculty as a whole before implementation.

Prior to the Faculty's meeting, the Undergraduate Council voted overwhelmingly to support such a measure.

"Twenty dollars today is not the same as it was in 1988, the last time the fee was raised. So the increase basically compensates for inflation and for the increase in student activities," said Undergraduate Council President Paul A. Gusmorino '02.

The Undergraduate Council has been in consultation with Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 about the term bill for the past several months.

In Dec. 1999, the Harvard student body voted to reject increasing the term-bill fee from $20 to $50, a move long supported by members of the Undergraduate Council.

When the Faculty first created the Undergraduate Council in 1981, the inclusion of the optional term-bill addition sparked controversy, resulting in Faculty members deciding to retain power over increases, said John B. Fox '59, secretary to the Faculty.

Now, the Faculty feels that it is logical for the adjustment to be made by the dean of the College rather than requiring a vote before the full Faculty, said Professor of Astronomy Robert P. Kirshner, a member of the Faculty Council.

In addition to the term-bill increase, the Faculty Council also discussed a recent meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Resources Committee with President Neil L. Rudenstine, held to discuss a proposed University-wide infrastructure fund.

The fund, which would enable the University to develop the land it now owns in Allston, would be supported through a percentage of the individual faculties' endowments--a subject of some contention in the last Faculty meeting.

"The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has had a chance to represent itself and to have itself listened to by people in the central administration," Kirshner said. "It seems like that is a healthy step."

The Resources Committee will report to the Faculty on the matter at its April meeting.

The Faculty Council also discussed the English Language Program, a program to help graduate students from non-English speaking countries become acclimated to life in America.

Werner Sollors, Cabot professor of English literature and Afro-American studies and a Faculty Council member, said the program was a great opportunity for both graduate students and those who taught in the program.

"Everyone was eager to go. There wasn't a single student missing from the class," said Sollors, who taught in the program last summer. "They were all asking questions and were engaged because it was an option rather than a requirement."

Out of the 31 students in the program, 25 are in science or engineering programs.

"You get to meet a lot of graduate student in fields other than your own that you wouldn't get to meet otherwise during the year," Sollors said.

--Staff writer Benjamin P. Solomon-Schwartz can be reached at bsolomon@fas.harvard.edu.