Council Seeks To Speed Grant Process

The Undergraduate Council introduced a plan yesterday to raise standards of accountability and shorten turnaround times for student groups seeking funding.

The proposed overhaul of the grant process was announced in an e-mail sent to student group leaders by the council’s Finance Committee, and will likely be approved this week.

Under the plan, second semester grants will be allocated on a project-by-project basis, and funds will be released after the completion of each project, committee chair Joshua A. Barro ’05 said in the e-mail.

Formerly, groups applied for all funding at the beginning of the semester in one comprehensive application.

Funding queries will also be processed more quickly under the new policy, according to Barro.

Barro said that due to the current grant system many student groups have yet to receive funds for expenditures made as far back as September—just last night the council approved 165 of last semester’s grants.

But with the new grant process in effect, the first round of this semester’s grants should go out before the end of February, Barro said.

“Under the same scenario from last semester, the first grants wouldn’t go out until early July,” he said.

Several Student group leaders voiced their approval of the new plan.

Caitlin R. Swanson ’05, president of the Catholic Students Association, said the policy would distribute funds more accurately.

“We’re very happy they made this change,” agreed Robert G. Bonstein ’04, president of the satire magazine SWIFT. “The old application was confusing and hard to shoehorn.”

Barro also said the new policy will bolster student group accountability, because the system will enable the council to more accurately track the destination of grant money.

Under the old system, some groups were able to divert earmarked funds for unapproved uses, he said.

“Some of the projects never happened,” he said. “Grants will now be made in a fairer manner.”

According to Barro, the new project-based grant program will benefit active groups, encouraging organizations to become more involved in campus life.

However, while the new funding system will cover capital expenditures, student groups will not receive funding for overhead costs such as bank and telephone fees, a change Barro said will encourage groups to streamline their operations.

Additionally, groups seeking funding will now plead their case directly to a council subcommittee, Barro said.

In the past, council representatives have spoken as advocates for each group. The system often left unanswered questions about the destination of funds.

“We’re eliminating the guesswork,” Barro said. “Now we know exactly where the money is going.”

—Staff writer William B. Higgins can be reached at whiggins@fas.harvard.edu.