Busta Rhymes performs this spring before 3,000 people at an Undergraduate Council-sponsored concert at the Lavietes Pavilion

A year ago, Matthew W. Mahan ’05 campaigned for the Undergraduate Council presidency on a platform that pledged to resuscitate Harvard’s social life by bringing big-name acts to campus, and making sure the council had enough money to do so.

As council president, Mahan has succeeded in raising the Student Activities Fee by $25, and using the extra $100,000 generated by the hike as leverage to sign comedian Jim Breuer and rock legend Bob Dylan for performances this fall.

Under Mahan’s watch, the council has also come under scrutiny for its fiscal irresponsibility, particularly because $30,000 worth of checks for student groups and House Committees (HoCos) bounced last May.

Moreover, October’s Breuer show and last night’s Dylan concert have incurred hefty, though expected, losses—placing a heavy burden on the council’s budget. (For more on the Dylan concert, see related story at left.)

“The take-away point is that this is a zero-sum game,” says Financial Committee (FiCom) Chair Teo P. Nicolais ’06. “For every dollar we spent on the Jim Breuer event and the Bob Dylan concert, there was one dollar less to spend on student groups.”

A presidential candidate in this year’s council race, Nicolais emphasizes the social value of HoCos, which have argued they have been most hurt by the shift in spending priorities.

In campaigning for his vision of student life, Nicolais will face another presidential contender with strong council credentials, Matthew J. Glazer ’06. (For more on the council’s presidential race, see related story, page A8.) Glazer, who chairs the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), says that large-scale events provide invaluable “unstructured social experiences” for the entire student body. He says the termbill fee increase allows for these events without hurting HoCos and student groups.

On the eve of the next council election, the divergent opinions of insiders reflect the growing pains of a better funded council that has to decide what its priorities should be, and how its funding should reflect those goals.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Last year when the termbill fee was still at $35, the council was effectively spending $47 per student, says Council Treasurer Clay T. Capp ’06, who is Glazer’s running mate in this year’s race.

Council members insist that the hike, which raised the fee from $35 to $60 and increased the council’s budget by about $100,000, was necessary to continue funding student groups and HoCos, while making good on promises to bring big-name bands to campus.

“The bottom line is if we hadn’t gotten this increase, we would have been crippled,” Glazer says.

While council members agree on the need to increase the fee, they part on how to use that money. As the council spends more on these large concerts, some argue that other allocations, including that for HoCos, will decrease.