College/Year: Trumbull ’03

Hometown: Sugar Land, Texas

Major: Economics, African American Studies

As a current member of the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee, Charlotte Lewis ’03 said she has an advantage over candidates who have not had experience on the committee.

“I know how it works,” she said.

In addition, Lewis, a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Undergraduate Advisory Committee for the Economics Department, said she believes her involvement in numerous activities is an asset to her candidacy.

“I’m in several organizations, and I know what organizations need to survive,” she said.

Lewis said she is particularly aware of a group’s needs because she is the founder of an organization at Yale, the Black College Vote. Because of this experience, she said she understands the need for money for publicity, meetings and discussions.

She added that many groups whose requests are rejected do not bother to reapply for more aid, though they are able to present an application bimonthly, when the UOFC holds meetings.

As a result, Lewis said she wants to see the guidelines for applying for aid made clearer to leaders of campus organizations since many groups’ members are unaware of the conditions under which they may receive UOFC funding.

Lewis said that in the past this lack of knowledge has produced some requests that the UOFC cannot fulfill.

She said that she wants the rules to be presented more clearly on the UOFC Web site or to be publicized in pamphlets or discussed in workshops.

She said an important issue for her is to get funding for organizations that emphasize diversity. She said she hopes to serve as a voice for these groups.

–Shinzong Lee