Student group leaders say the seminars, which aim to educate newly elected treasurers on how to properly keep records and handle large amounts of money, are effective.

Run by RMAS experts, many of the seminars cite the Evening With Champions theft as an example of what could go wrong.

The seminars can only suggest guidelines, students say, for its leaders do not check whether the student treasurers are following proper procedures.

Nevertheless, students say they still find the suggestions useful.

“It was good seeing an example of how a budget should be run,” said Jasmine J. Mahmoud ’04, the treasurer of the Black Students Association and a Crimson editor.

Illingworth says that in deciding on oversight policies, he wants to avoid a heavy-handed approach.

“There’s still a lot of trust at Harvard,” he says.

Despite the history of a few high-profile scandals, Illingworth says the state of student group finances is strong overall.

“When you consider the number of organizations and the amount of money which goes through them, we’ve had very few problems,” he says. “Statistically it hasn’t been bad.”

—Staff Writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.