We are pleased that the Undergraduate Council refined its grants distribution process last week to make funding more available to student organizations. The changes result in large part from an initiative by President Robert M. Hyman '98 to increase the percentage of council funding given to student groups by three percent of its $177,000 yearly budget. We are glad that Hyman followed through on this campaign promise, and we hope that the percentage of funds given to student groups continues to increase.

Under pressure from student leaders, the council's Finance Committee agreed to accept grant applications premised on merit, properly translated as ability to spend money in accord with the student interest. The extra $3,500 from the percentage hike has been combined with last year's unspent budget to forge a new merit-based fund. Previously, the council required that the finances of groups be near zero before requesting a grant from the communal ante that it controls. Now, organizations with healthy financial records which act in the student interest are eligible to apply. Ethnic groups like the Black Students Association (BSA), Asian American Association and the Minority Students Alliance, which used to lose out to less financially viable organizations, will benefit most.

One concern we do have is that representative Joshua D. Powe '98 serves both as the secretary of the new grants committee and as treasurer of the BSA. Because Powe's job with the council entails the creation of funding guidelines, there is a conflict of interest that has the appearance of impropriety.

However, we are also pleased that the council has continued to fund activities in the houses through block grants of $500 to the house committees. Some council members would have liked to review how those grants are to be spent in an unfortunate return to centralized authority. But this entirely paternalist measure was changed for the simpler request of Student Affairs Committee Chair Eric M. Nelson '99 that the committee be informed, even after the fact, of how the grants are used. Still, the houses should not be required to report to the committee at all. Why are the council members any more qualified to determine how house funds should be spent than students who reside in a particular house?

The council's expansion of student funding is a positive measure. In the future, we hope to see a less-regulated disbursal process that gives away a greater percentage of council funds.