Harvard University students were surprised to discover that they won't be receiving "party grants," which are exactly what you think. But those halcyon days are over. After a brief struggle over whether or not party grants should continue, it appears that the Undergraduate Council abruptly settled the issue, at least for this semester. From the Crimson:

Two Mondays ago Joshua D. Smith ’09 applied for an Undergraduate Council party grant. When he received no word from the UC by its usual Wednesday response time, he e-mailed Margaret M. Wang ’09, former party fund director of the UC Finance Committee, to find out if his party would be awarded any funding. Wang referred his request to UC President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, who informed Smith that party grants would no longer be distributed until a reevaluation of the system under the new dean of the College.

The Great Party Grant Debate started when there were concerns that the money was going toward booze. So the Harvard Undergraduate Council reached a compromise and said the money could go to anything party-related as long as it wasn't booze.

The fate of the party grants will be up to Evelynn Hammonds, the new dean of Harvard College. She won't start until June 1, so students will have to find other ways to fund their parties. Harvard students are smart and creative, so we don't imagine they'll have any problem. And, if they're not that creative, then they can do like the rest of us and drink Franzia and eat Fritos to pass the time.