"I think the group tries to be as fair aspossible but obviously if the diversity of thegroup could be increased it could do a betterjob," said former finance chair David A. Battat'91.

And adding to the general perception of thegroup as an almost exclusively male organizationis the tight camaraderie finance members feel. Therepresentatives each must put in between 40 and 60hours of work over a period of two weeks for thecouncil's grants to come out on time.

"We spend hours and hours together in a smallcramped room, banging out deals between people,have heated debates, and when you've been throughsuch an ordeal, you feel like you've accomplishedsomething and you feel bonded," says Yun. "I'vemade some good friends through the financecommittee."

The pride of the committee is also apparentduring this period, which usually strikes aroundmid-term time. Committee members generally have 80to 100 percent attendance at their meetings,compared to many other council committees thatoften struggle to maintain 50 percent.

"The grants are absolutely 100 percentimportant and for three weeks you absolutely haveto come," Battat says.

Aronberg says he joined the committee in thefirst place because "I heard it was the committethat does the most on the council. People thinkeverything else is just a waste of time. Thefinance committee as a whole does more than anyoneelse."

"People like to say they're part of the financecommittee, a lot of people do revel in it," hesays