"She has never told me the balance before," said Burton, who is serving his second semester as treasurer. "I've never asked her about the balance, but she never told me."

Lamelle D. Rawlins '99, Stewart's predecessor as council president, said she had never been told of the balance's existence either, though she was aware that some term-bill roll-over from previous years existed.

Regardless of whether treasurers were told of the account balance in the past, under a new system implemented by Cooke this year, all groups will be told of their balance in writing.

"This year, statements of University accounts were distributed at the financial seminars for presidents and treasurers of student organizations," Cooke said.

Stewart said she received the council's balance statement at that meeting approximately a month ago but did not make the balance public until last week because she wanted to discuss it with the council's new executive board before releasing the information.

Epps said that the fact that the $40,000 was forgotten represents an "internal problem" with the council's accounting system because, according to Epps, the council should have kept track of the rollover from year to year itself.

Dollars for Dave

Last night, however, council representatives were less concerned with whether the money was hidden than with what to do with it now.

Members of the Campus Life Committee (CLC) said at Sunday's council meeting they may propose using the money to bring the Dave Matthews Band to campus for Springfest.

The band is currently appearing at colleges for reduced rates as part of their college tour.

The council would try to earn back their money by selling tickets.

"The bid would have to go out Monday to have any shot at getting the band," said CLC chair Ryan E. Dorris '00.

Last night the council's Student Activities Committee voted not to consider a similar proposal which would have used the funds to bid for the band and then replaced them with money recouped from ticket sales. Student groups would then use the money.

Nicholas J. Stone '00, Trevor S. Blake '00 and Stephen N. Smith '02 sponsored the proposal.

Instead, the executive board will consider what to do with the money at their meeting tomorrow and will bring a proposal to Sunday's council meeting