Undergraduates need funds to perform research

As one of the premier research institutions in the nation, you would think that Penn would provide its students with every opportunity to perform original work.

For many students at the University, research isn't a choice: They have to conduct research for, and write, senior theses. Many of these theses require extensive travel and various other expenses. Even photocopying costs add up.

To help support students in their research, Penn offers a number of scholarships through the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

"Good research is often based on the ability to go somewhere, travel some place and retrieve data of one sort or another. Sometimes, students are able to finance that sort of thing on their own, but there are many other times when students can't afford that," said Art Casciato, Director of CURF.

Funding is an amazing opportunity -- but only for the select few which actually receive it. This year, 44 people applied for CURF summer funding -- and 19 people were ultimately successful. I was one of the 25 that didn't, and now I'll be forced to fork over my own money to pay for the research involved in my history thesis.

College senior Josh Gordon, who just finished his history thesis despite being denied CURF funding, said, "My project would have been better if I could have gone to presidential libraries." Instead, he went to Washington with the $300 he was awarded by the History Department to cover travel expenses.

Yet, while undergraduates are starved for funds, Penn flaunts its status as one of the premier research universities in the nation, spending more than $700 million for research and development annually. CURF is only allocated an estimated $160,000 per year. When compared to $700 million, this is chump change.

And while CURF's $160,000 budget may appear to provide enough funds for students, $120,000 of that money is earmarked for the University Scholars program; that leaves only $40,000 to spread among the 10,000 undergraduates who aren't one of the 130 Scholars. Think about it for a second: 75 percent of the total funds go to about 1 percent of the students. It sounds similar to the land distribution in medieval France -- and 99 percent of us are serfs.

Because of this, students which didn't receive aid, such as College senior Spencer Scharff, were confronted with a dilemma: either spend their own money or sacrifice the quality and scope of their projects.

"I thought about traveling, but I ended up limiting the scope of my thesis to local resources," said Scharff, who is just finishing his political science honors thesis.

But this isn't CURF's fault. The true problem is that there is only $160,000 to begin with. How is a student on financial aid expected to finance summer research without assistance from the University?

CURF is not to blame for the lack of funds that they have to distribute, because it is only given a limited amount of money from the Provost's Office.

"We would rather not run this as a competition," Casciato said -- but with the current lack of funding, that's exactly what takes place. With $106 million soon being allocated for more renovations to the high rises, I am appalled that the University couldn't find the extra $25,000 necessary to support everyone who wished to do research this summer.

Why can't the University have two fewer security guards on patrol and, instead, more than double CURF's discretionary-spending budget?

One light at the end of a long dark funding tunnel is that departments allocate funds of their own for the purpose of undergraduate research. "The History Department regularly offers grants of up to $500 for student research projects," said Beth Wenger, undergraduate chairwoman of the History Department.

In addition to travel and research expenses that one incurs during thesis research, many students say the mere cost of reproducing eight copies of their theses to cost upwards of $200. CURF funding does not cover these costs, so they are put on students' shoulders.

The University must set its priorities straight. Students come to Penn to earn a competitive advantage over other schools, but students are losing their advantage when they can't find funding for their research. A couple of nicer lounges in the high rises may be comfortable, but they are not necessary. Improving the value of a Penn education by providing students with research funding would be money spent wisely.

Stephen Morse is a junior English and history major from Oceanside, N.Y. Morsels of Wisdom appears on Wednesdays.

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