Megan C. McCallion, who is in charge of Science Center classroom scheduling, says she has seen a downward trend in recent months.

"We have noticed that fewer student groups are signing up for film showings," McCallion said.

Last year, the Science Center hosted 19 films. This year will see only 13.

War of the Weekends

McCallion notes that there have always been many limiting factors associated with student group success in the Science Center.

"Attendance depends on many factors such as film title chosen, effectiveness of the postering efforts, and other activities that weekend," McCallion says.

Student group leaders say securing the right weekend is crucial.

"In the past, there has been a problem with groups showing different movies on the same days, because no one wants a weekend when there are midterms or a billion other events going on," says Emily Y. Yang '01, co-president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association (AAA).

During the popular weekends--like when lonely prospective students invade the campus--two groups may battle it out for audiences and hurt each other's profits.

But even a prime weekend was not enough to fill the house for last weekend's showing of "Dead Poets Society."

Postering is a major component of a profitable weekend. And the College's rules regarding where a group can place signs prevents effective publicity, some student leaders say.

Smith says groups are bound to violate one of the administration's regulations and incur a $50 fine--but that's a small price to pay for the potential dollars lost if a group didn't publicize.

"If you attempt to follow the rules, you get lost" in a sea of colorful fliers, says Niki V. Santo '00, who organized this weekend's showing of "Enemy of the State," sponsored by the Mather House Committee.

"The postering situation is vicious, but that's for any event," says Smith, who is also a Crimson editor. "It's just war--people tearing down each other's signs."

The Avengers