UC Finance Committee Increases Food Funding Allocation

Events on campus may offer more food from now on, thanks to a new Undergraduate Council policy.

The UC’s Finance Committee voted unanimously Thursday to increase food funding for student events by $1 per attendee. Under the new measure, snacks will be eligible for funding at $3 per person, small meals at $4 per person, and full meals at $5 per person.

Finance Committee Chair William A. Greenlaw ’17 said the policy change will help balance the Council’s funding allocations between cultural organizations, which primarily seek funding for food, and performing arts groups. Last academic year, performing arts groups cumulatively received about $7,000 more than cultural organizations, according to a report Greenlaw compiled.

“If there's no food at an event, people don't show up,” Greenlaw said. “It's the single biggest expenditure for cultural organizations.”

Although funding for food will increase, the committee’s overall budget will not change, Greenlaw said. If projected allocations in a given week exceed the UC’s budget for that week, then the committee will impose a flat percentage cut on all initial grant allocations.

“It gives [cultural organizations] a bigger piece of the pie,” Pforzheimer House representative Neel Mehta ’18 said.

During the Finance Committee’s Thursday meeting, members also passed 22 other amendments to the committee’s Grant Evaluation Guidelines, which help determine the procedure for grants and how much money student organizations are eligible to receive. One of the new policy changes abolishes a previous rule that only allowed organizations to receive up-front grants if they applied at least 21 days before the event.

Another change eliminates the rule that groups were only permitted to have one outstanding up-front grant at a time.

“It’s needless red tape,” Greenlaw said.

The committee also voted to eliminate the rule requiring that ticketed events provide $50 worth of tickets or 10 tickets for the UC to distribute through a lottery. Instead, all ticketed events must now be eligible for the Student Events Fund, which funds free tickets to student-produced events for students with qualifying financial need.

During the meeting, the committee also evaluated its pilot program to mandate sexual assault prevention training for student organizations receiving large grants. According to Greenlaw, the program has trained 70 students this semester.

Representatives said that next semester they hope to work with the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to focus the sessions on skills-based training.

“I think that it's still a great idea for us to continue trying to train as many people as we can at a more advanced level,” Elm Yard representative Evan M. Bonsall ’19 said.

In one case, Greenlaw said a student organization that was required to complete training—Harvard Ventures—indicated members would attend the training, but did not. As a result, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to withhold future funding the group until they attend a training session.

Harvard Ventures leaders did not respond to request for comment.