The Party’s Back On

Last year, many Harvard students lamented—or grew outraged—at the sudden demise of the Undergraduate Council party grants, which were discontinued following a contentious struggle between the UC and the administration that resulted in then-Interim Dean of the College David Pilbeam terminating the Party Fund. Fortunately, the future of Harvard partying may be looking brighter these days due the UC’s recent passage of the Social Grants Act, which is a pilot program that provides funding for social events on campus provided they meet certain requirements.

We recognize that there were many problems with the original Party Fund system but find that the new proposed program makes reasonable compromises on those issues.

A significant difference from the old Party Fund system is that the new “UC Weekend Fund” will only distribute grants to events held in House common spaces and will not be used to fund parties in private suites. One of the major concerns with party funding was that money from the administration would be indirectly funding underage drinking. Restricting funding to parties in common areas, which are easier to monitor than private suites, makes underage drinking more difficult—and may be the only reason why this proposal has any support from the administration.

The social grant system also addresses concerns that private parties funded under the old system were underpublicized and often ended up being exclusive. This counteracted a main goal of the Party Fund, which was to expand social opportunities for all undergraduates. The nature of the new system should be more inclusive, especially because House common spaces are much more accessible than private suites, and many students would feel more comfortable attending a party in a JCR than showing up at a stranger’s dorm room.

Still, the benefits of funding and encouraging room parties, as in the old system, so long as they are well publicized and not exclusive, should not be underestimated. The UC should at least attempt to expand this program in the future to also fund suite parties. Measures could be taken to monitor alcohol consumption in these locations as tutors could still check in on these locations, and, after all, grant applicants must be 21 years of age in order to receive any funding for alcohol.

The pilot program raises some questions, of course. It is unclear, for example, whether these funds will significantly benefit the social lives of underage students. Yet reviving some manner of funding for parties is preferable to no fund at all. And, while it may seem unsatisfactory that alcohol consumption will be more strictly monitored under the new system than during the Party Fund days, we cannot realistically expect the administration to indirectly fund underage student drinking, considering the potential for legal liability.

So given the many positive aspects of this program, we hope that the UC Weekend Fund will have a successful trial run this spring and that the program will become a permanent resource for Harvard’s social scene come next fall.