‘Super Parties’ To Get Double Funding

The Undergraduate Council (UC) voted last night to provide double funding to parties thrown in the best-known party spaces in the upperclass Houses.

These “Super Parties,” which are “thrown in large party suites and spaces or parties thrown in three or more normal living areas,” such as the Currier Ten Man suite, the Lowell Bell Tower, and Eliot’s Ground Zero, will receive $200 reimbursements for hosting a party instead of the typical $100 party grant

The UC has compiled a list of these large-scale party spaces, but students may apply to have their rooms added to this pre-approved list.

And while the UC decided to differentially grant $200 to three “Super Parties” each week, it will still allot $100 to seven normal parties.

“Party funds were not always used to throw the best parties,” said Alexandra M. Gutierrez ’08, who co-sponsored the bill.

Although the new grant process will cut the number of parties being funded per week from 13 to 10, it will “increase the quality of parties that more undergraduates go to,” said Jia “Jane” Fang ’08, the other co-sponsor of the bill.

“We want to encourage students to throw parties, make sure they’re well attended, and that they are of a better quality on a more consistent basis,” said UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06.

Gutierrez added that the UC planned to monitor more closely how the larger sums granted to these parties are spent.

Last night, the UC also passed a bill to provide House Committees (HoCos) with their funding for the semester up front.

This change marks a departure from previous years, in which the HoCos laid out money for their expenditures and were subsequently reimbursed by the UC.

The UC doles out $3,500 to each HoCo per semester, which comes out to about $90,000 for the year. That sum is almost 25 percent of the council’s entire budget, which totals approximately $400,000.

According to the bill passed last night, which Glazer called “one of the most liberal HoCo budgets,” this change will remove the former reimbursement process that many Houses found hard to handle.

Mather House HoCo Co-Chair Jessica L. Jones ’06 told the council that ommittee members had to charge purchases on personal credit cards or borrow from House Masters in order to make payments up front. She added that Mather HoCo’s annual budget usually amounts to $30,000.

Glazer said the change was a result of working closely with HoCos and listening to their feedback.

Fang said the HoCos will “still be very much accountable,” since their future funding will be contingent upon efficient spending. For example, if a HoCo fails to use the UC allocation according to its previously-approved budget, that HoCo might receive funding cuts for the next semester.

Although council members raised questions at last night’s meeting as to why Houses of different sizes were funded equally, sponsors of the bill explained that the funding was intended to cover basic fixed costs, like renting space for formals, that do not necessarily vary from House to House.

—Staff writer Victoria Kim can be reached at vkim@fas.harvard.edu.