"In the meetings, they'll say 'Please ignore the fact that their group is doing such and such an event,"' says Chan, who is a Crimson editor. "Who's to judge which group is better than another? They try to keep it focused on the numbers, not the events."

Indeed, many student groups criticize what they say is an unclear, unfair and confusing grants process.

The procedures themselves seem straightforward enough.

During the first few weeks of the semester, groups submit applications detailing projected expenditures and other sources of income. The Finance Committee then considers each organization during the semester and recommends a grant, which the entire council must approve once all groups are considered.

The committee's decisions are often made at night, during meetings which can last anywhere from one hour to marathon sessions into the morning.

Members of the committee say perceptions of unfairness will always exist because it's no easy task for them to split hairs over how they will distribute thousands of dollars to student groups each semester.

Former Finance Committee chair Clay M. West '97, for one, admits that the process can seem "random, harsh and abstract," but insists the committee tries to consider all groups objectively.

Indeed, despite evidence to the contrary, council members maintain that the committee's only considerations in the grants process are an organization's financial need and impact on campus.

"If [ideological bias] does influence anyone's decisions, it doesn't come up during the meeting, probably because we don't have a lot of ideologically extreme groups [applying]," says Stephen E. Weinberg '99, the committee's current chair.

Weinberg does point to certain precedents that help govern the council's decisions.

Restrictions are usually imposed on the amount of money an organization can receive for publicity, reception costs and plane tickets, among others.

In addition, the committee sometimes uses precedent from past grants to determine a group's allocation, according to Chan.

"Sometimes someone will say, 'Well, we gave another similar groups so much money, so we should give this group a similar amount,"' Chan says.

Many student leaders also complain that they are not kept well-informed of their group's application status.

"It took a long time for them to get back to us," says Joshua D. Powe '98, treasurer of the Black Students Association. "I think it was about five weeks before we heard from them, which I thought was frankly absurd."