Dudley, however, is going through the painful process of considering charging dues. Before this year, the Dudley House Committee relied on about $400 from the University to supplement its budget--a stipend that failed to come through this year. "We're strapped," says Colarossi.
While dues can be an important source of revenue, the constant star is washing machines. In every house, revenue from washing machines, dryers, soda machines and video games are either the biggest or second biggest money makers.
At Quincy last year the game machines provided $400 a month, and per capita, Quincy residents do more laundry, says Prince.
"We party harder, but we do more laundry," Prince says. And when Quincy house residents party more they pump more money into their house budget. Last year $4500 of the Quincy budget came from formal ticket sales. Indeed many houses plan parties on a shoestring budget and hope ticket sales will cover the costs.
Quincy and Currier draw many of their benefits from their large common spaces in their modern buildings. Both the houses have large active grill areas that are typically seething with students spending money at the grill on video machines or soda.
Another constant star is mug and t-shirt sales, while other houses have turned dutch auctions into major money making sources. And Leverett had an unexpected money-making dance at the beginning of the year. Other houses make money from carnation sales on Valentine's Day. And Winthrop House has a unique source of revenue--roylaties of $2000 to $4000 a year on a directory of 'Throp alumni published by a private company.
One outlawed source of revenue is charging for alcohol. Since the College began seriously enforcing a ban on admission charges for parties that serve alcohol two years ago, treasurers have been scraping for innovative ways to raise money.
MOST HOUSE COMMITTEE chairmen and College officials recognize that there are vast inequities at Harvard and that the discrepancies affect house life. But few call for standardization of house budgets. And College administrators do not want to step in. Last year, at a meeting between house committee chairmen and Epps, several chairmen suggested term billing house dues, but the suggestion was rejected as impractical by other chairmen.
"To expect each house to have the same social functions is ridiculous, but I think some of the discrepancies are unfair," says Dudley's Colarossi.
Dunster House Committee Chairman Jonathan E. Klaaren '86 agrees, "I think this is a matter that definitely should be looked into in more detail. The thing I do feel urgency on is the fact that some house committees get more money."
But some chairmen think there is room for improvement without the College stepping in. "I'm not sure if it's an issue yet, because I'm not sure if every house committee has made the greatest efforts in fundraising efforts," says Currier's Ramirez.
Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 agrees. "I would move very slowly in trying to move in. Unless there is pretty strong evidence that that is needed to be done. It is difficult to prohibit legitimate fundraising activities," Jewett says.
Epps says one of the main reasons the College is opposed to stepping in and standardizing house budgets because of Harvard's emphasis on student initiative. "Students learn from the experience. House committees should have their own character and keep their own variety," Epps says. "When you take responsibility for something yourself it's more likely that the house chairmen are responsible to what their constituents want." * Budgets are approximations which depend on collection rates for recently implemented house dues. Figures for house budgets are approximations made by the house committee chairmen based upon last year's budgets. The actual budgets can change appreciably during the year.