Non-commercial organizations do not usuallydeal with large amounts of money, said Yoon, AAA'sformer treasurer.

"Our mission is not as a business," Yoon said.

President of the Catholic Student Association(CSA) Matthew J. Paschke '95 said he agrees.

"The [annual] budget of the Catholic StudentAssociation is $300," so it would not matter thatmuch "even if someone did embezzle it," Paschkesaid.

Another Tale

Sometimes, the Dean of Students' office isn'tthe first authority to find out about moneytroubles.

In 1992 and 1993, the Harvard Computer Society(HCS) was thousands of dollars in debt, accordingto former HCS president Eugene E. Kim '96.

But it was only when the publisher of theHarvard Computer Review, Turley Publications,called Flatley's office that the dean began tolook into the group's finances, Kim said.

"The administration takes a fairlylaissez-faire attitude about this," Kim said.

By the time Flatley and Epps talked to HCS, Kimsaid, the group was on its way back to the black,with a business manager who was recruitingstaffers and getting the organization out of debt.

After that initial contact, Kim said HCS hadmuch more constant contact with the dean's office.

But even today, when Harvard ComputerReview is flourishing in an on-line format andHCS is in the black, Kim said that it would beeasy to embezzle money.

"It's harder to do now because we have moreaccountability, in that the business managerdoesn't have total control of the accounts," Kimsaid. "But the business manager enters theinformation and holds sole check-signingresponsibility."

And although current Business Manager Roland W.Ho '97 is trust-worthy, in the future, there areno promises, Kim said.

"Honestly, I can't guarantee five years downthe line that the business manager of HCS isn'tgoing to be this unethical guy pumping theorganization's money into his own funds," Kimsaid.