Harvard is fond of telling prospective students that if there is not already an organization that fits their interests, they can easily start one that does.

A lot of students have taken Harvard up on its offer.

Over the past 15 years, the number of student groups on campus has ballooned from 90 in 1980 to more than 240 this year. Thirty-five new groups have been founded in the `90s alone.

The reasons for this expansion are unclear: some cite the initiation of Council term-bill fees for student group funding; others cite a decline in House life resulting from randomization.

But whatever the reason for this tremendous growth, Harvard's resources for extracurricular activities have not kept pace.

As Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 points out, the Council fee of $20 has not increased with inflation or the growth of these activities. Officers say that the council's grants, which average $250 per group, do not come close to meeting the funding needs of most organizations.

In extreme cases, students have had to fund themselves out of their own pockets or miss national competitions because of a lack of traveling money.

"The U.C. provides us with some funding, but it's not enough to cover even our initial registration fees," says Thomas G. Saunders '00, co-president of the Mock Trial Team and Pre-Law Society.

Equally important is a shortage of space, as the College can currently provide space for less than a third of student groups, with more than a dozen on a waiting list.

Student leaders say that functioning without an office in which to store a phone, computer and fax machine, can make it difficult to effectively run a serious organization.

College administrators have recognized these problems and have begun to seek and implement solutions, but students say that without significant changes, their groups will be left fighting for grants and struggling for desks to call their own.

Living Within Limits

Some student leaders say that limits on student group funding have prevented their organizations from reaching full potential--an assessment shared by the group providing the majority of the funding.

The Undergraduate Council provides 67.1 percent of student group funding (excluding public service grants), but Council President Beth A. Stewart '00 says her group can provide only a small fraction of the resources groups deserve.

"We...fund a maximum of one third" of need, Stewart says. "We only fund student groups who have no money or are running deficits, and even the groups we do fund we only fund at [about] one third of their grant request."