Other Funding Options Exist

To the editors:

While The Crimson should be commended for its recent coverage of the difficulties of funding student groups, "Student Groups Ask: Can You Spare a Dime?" (March 2) describes only a few of the funding sources available for student groups. There are a number of additional funding sources available, such as the Radcliffe Union of Students, Education for Action (E4A), and the Institute of Politics. None of these is very large, and each of them funds grants only for a select range of activities, but student groups should carefully consider all of their potential funding options.

Recognizing that its own grant resources are stretched impossibly thin, the Undergraduate Council has created a web site to help guide student groups to more funding sources: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hruc/Resources/.

None of this changes the reality that funding for student groups, especially in categories not covered by multiple grant sources, is very tight on this campus. In my former tenure on the council's grants committee, I saw student leaders suspend publications, cancel events, contribute unreasonable personal funds and even take out jobs to deal with funding shortages. New sources of money for student groups must be found. STEPHEN E. WEINBERG '99   Undergraduate Council Director of   Student Group Information Resources   March 2, 1998