Council members expect the president’s office to supplement the current council-funded budget of $20,000 for all of Springfest, $5,884 of which has been set aside for a band.

“The president’s office has offered to fund a band,” said Jessica R. Stannard-Friel ’03, co-chair of the Campus Life Committee (CLC). “Hopefully there will be a band with recognizable name and a following with students.”

The exact amount that the president’s office will contribute to the total cost of Springfest still remains unclear.

“It’s tough to talk about numbers right now, especially since there is still a lot of open-ended activities on what the event is going to consist of,” said University spokesperson Christopher Ahearn.

The council and the president’s office also need to take into account the costs of building a stage in the Mac Quad that will be more expensive than last year’s, which was outfitted for a smaller band.

This year the council is choosing student bands with a Battle of the Bands event, tentatively scheduled for weekend after spring break. Stannard-Friel said the event will be good exposure for the bands and also promote Springfest.

Another small controversy broke out over the UC-General, the council’s e-mail list, when CLC Co-Chair Michael R. Blickstead ’05 posted an offer from Fun Ventures, the amusement company the council hired for Springfest, to pay students $100 to man their rides.

Council member Alexander B. Patterson ’03 wrote over the e-mail list that it was unfair that student ride operators should get paid while council members volunteered their time.

Blickstead and other council members responded that not only was this option impossible, but council representatives are elected to volunteer their services.

“Fun Ventures was going to have labor for the rides. They were either going to use Harvard students or look elsewhere,” Blickstead said.

Thirty people have been placed on a list to work for Fun Ventures on a first-come first-serve basis. These students along with some 50 council members will operate 15 rides geared to students and younger children. Rides for younger children will be in the Lowell House courtyard whereas the other rides will be on the Mac Quad.

Blickstead said the rides, extra food and better band for an expected 6,000 guests are all possible because of the additional funding provided by the president’s office.

“They’ve also contributed a large sum to the entire event, they are enhancing the rides, the food—basically the whole event to make it better for the student and the Harvard community in general,” he said.

—Staff writer Nalina Sombuntham can be reached at sombunth@fas.harvard.edu.