The Finance Board will no longer cover Cholmondeley's $50 fee for clubs and organizations to hold a coffeehouse, to the disappointment of some club leaders, because F-board no longer has extra rollover funds to pay the fee for clubs, F-Board Chair Emily Moignard '09 said.F-Board paid the $50 fee for clubs last semester because of the Free Admissions Policy, whereby F-Board fully funded "theater groups, shows [and] cultural events so that everything could be free for all students," Moignard said. F-Board only gave funding to clubs that did not charge for their events, she said.

She said F-Board could finance the Chum's fee because it was using rollover money, allocated money that had not been spent by clubs in the previous semester and had accumulated.

"It's a culture shock from last semester because we don't have the buffer of rollover," Moignard said, but she added that F-Board never paid the Chum's fee before last semester under the Free Admissions Policy, and clubs should look at how they paid this fee in years past.

Alissa Cherry '10, Chum's events manager, said, "Last semester was the only semester that F-Board included coffeehouse money. Fall semester 2007, it was exactly the way it is now. I agree that this is a problem seeing as some clubs and teams can't raise the money, and I think that the school should really think about that when they decide who to give money to."

In order to get rid of the existing rollover funds, F-Board held a campuswide vote for allocation of these funds, and students voted for a weight room, which some club members like David Drayton '09 of Positive Foundations lamented has not yet been built.

Despite the lack of rollover funds, Drayton said, "The F-Board had over $200,000 left over after Regular Marathon this year, so they had funds for a few $50 fees."

Moignard said F-Board allocated 100 percent of its funds set aside for Regular Marathon, in which clubs request money for that semester, and has additional money that will be allocated for the spring semester. Due to expenses related to creating the weight room, there is no rollover money from last year.

After paying the $50 Chum's fee, Drayton said, "we still have $50 less now than we would have had. Given the nature of [Positive Foundations], this can be a big deal since $50 can buy five anti-malarial bed nets, . buy 25 anti-malarial pills . or buy two birth certificates for little girls, . allowing the children to go to school."

Lev Hirschhorn '11, a member of Democracy for America, said "I understand why F-Board decided to stop funding. . However, I don't think it was the correct decision. Coffeehouses are an important part of the campus social life and it's pretty silly to force club leaders to pay for them out-of-pocket."

Nirja Parekh '09, the general manager at Chum's, said, "Chum's is not planning to change the fee as of right now. They cannot lower the fee because Chum's is not financially stable enough to do so."

Parekh said, "We work as a self-sustaining business, earning enough to pay for groceries and throw our own events. The coffeehouse payments are the only real revenue we get that goes toward our groceries and the renovations we want for Chum's, to make it a better student hangout and performance space."

"Chum's is currently pursuing funding for renovations and updates through various administrators. Many students don't realize that Chum's has become really rundown over the years and can't keep up with the hectic events schedule," she said.

The lack of funding doesn't seem to affect the number of clubs holding coffeehouses. According to Parekh, she hasn't seen the numbers of coffeehouses drop because they still have a full schedule for this semester, and Positive Foundations and DFA club members said the policy did not affect their ability to hold a coffeehouse.

On the F-Board Web site, where clubs send in money requests before Marathon, DFA, Positive Foundations, College Democrats and Punk, Rock n' Roll Club were the clubs that requested money for the Chum's fee.

"[Positive Foundations has] a relatively large bank, lots of connections, lots of manpower, a good reputation and a very dedicated executive board," Drayton said.

Anne Schweitzer '10, president of College Democrats, said, "We are still going to hold a coffeehouse at Chum's, so that hasn't changed. It just means we will have to be really adamant about donations at the door."

Hirschhorn said, "DFA will still probably be able to hold the coffeehouse we planned to have this semester."

Parkekh is disappointed with the F-Board's decision to stop funding Chum's fees for clubs because "Chum's is a central spot on campus for student fundraising and events, and we would hate to see clubs unable to book coffeehouses with us due to the lack of funding from F-Board.