With much fanfare and to great applause, Harvard officials announced the formation of a $ 1 million endowment in February, 1985 to help fund student involvement in community service activities. But now, as the first year of the program draws to a close, there are many questions in the public service community about how effectively the money was spent and how it will be used in the future.

When President Derek C. Bok announced the establishment of the fund last year, it was looked upon by the leaders of Harvard's burgeoning student volunteer force as initiating a new era in university aid for service activities manned by undergraduates. At the same time, Cambridge officials hoped the fund would foster a greater spirit of cooperation between town and gown, significantly increasing Harvard's role in support of community programs in need of funding.

But after a year, critics are asking if Harvard is really increasing its support for public service or just rerouting money it already had. In addition, campus social service agencies say, a large portion of this year's money was used for administrative expenses--not the direct program funding that was advertised last year.

New and Old Groups

"It is our goal," Bok said when he announced the fund last year, "to encourage every student in the college to consider seriously the opportunities for public service and to make such service a regular part of their lives." Income from the special fund would finance existing student volunteer groups as well as newly created service projects.

Campus observers say they expected the million-dollar endowment to generate $50,000 in funding annually for service programs. But the five-member committee set up by the university to disburse the funds only received $43,000 this fall to allocate to different programs. Of that money, only $40,125 has been given out this year, committee members say.

"The general perception was that $50,000 was what was to be available in grants," says Valerie A. Barton '86, the former president of Phillips Brooks House (PBH). Members of Harvard's best-known service agency say they want to know why all the promised money has not been distributed and how much will be dispersed next year.

"We all figured that with a $1 million endowment and Harvard's investment clout, that's how much it would be," says William H. Gump '85-86, a Quincy House resident who directs Harvard's Public Service Program (PSP). Funded entirely by the university, the four-year old agency is an umbrella organization that primarily links Cambridge youths with undergraduates.

Dean of the College Archie C. Epps III, a member of the distributing committee, confirms that "the $50,000 figure was batted around earlier on, but that's not the amount we received." Harvard's conservative investment policies account for the less-than-hoped for sum generated from the million dollar endowment, Epps says.

"We try to have money from endowments provide the same support for activitites over [a period of time]," says Thomas O'Brien, Harvard's vice-president for financial affairs.

The million dollars was invested along with Harvard's other endowment monies in a mutual fund. Committee Chair John B. Fox Jr., administrative dean for the graduate school of arts and sciences, says the criteria for doling out the funding was set by "a carefully calculuated formula" determined by faculty, administrators and financial personnel. Between four and five percent of an endowment's income is made available for distribution, and then is reinvested back into the original capital fund.

"This is designed to give programs the same real level of support over the long-haul," according to O'Brien. It also prevents unpredictable factors like inflation or interest rate fluctuations from diminishing the overall value of the fund's earnings.

O'Brien says that no one in the administration had approached him with the idea of investing the endowment money in ways which would have earned more money for programs that, in the words of Gump, are constantly "scrambling for funds."

These investment policies and the decision of the committee to hold on to $2875 in funds for use next year have confused and upset public service activists who were expecting more financial relief when Bok announced the creation of the fund.

"There are organizations on campus that need and can implement that money right now," PBH's Barton says.