Green Team has faced more demand than it has been able to accommodate in recent terms due to understaffing problems, said Aurora Matzkin, special assistant to the president for student health. Green Team's inability to meet requests is unrelated to the College's decision last summer to stop funding the program for unregistered events.
Increased ease in requesting Green Team presence while registering an event has yielded an increase in supervision requests for registered events, said Victor Hollenberg '14, Green Team public relations chair.
"It became literally checking off a box on a form you're required to fill out starting in the summer," Hollenberg said.
The program's increased visibility contributed to its popularity among event organizers, he said.
The College still pays for all of Green Team's needs, including student wages, technological support for Green Team organizers, training expenses and "party packs," or water bottles and bread sticks often found at registered events.
"The budget for Green Team hasn't been set at you have this amount of money,' it's been set in terms of we're supporting these activities, whatever they cost.'" Matzkin said.
Green Team costs have increased in recent terms with heightened demand.
Green Team's inability to meet all of the demand for its services is not a result of to its absence from unregistered events, Hollenberg said. The shortage is due to a lessened "novelty factor" among recent classes as students have grown more familiar with Green Team.
"With the '11s and '12s, more people were willing to work than are now," Hollenberg said.
Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity president Paul Finkelstein '13 said the decision to cut funding for Green Team at unregistered events was misguided.
"I think that everybody's goal is that we don't want anybody to go out and not make it home," Finkelstein said. "If they want more people to register, I think they need to look at peoples' reasons for registering, rather than punishing people for not registering."
Finkelstein lauded the impact that Green Team has on events, adding that the College should focus on keeping students safe rather than getting parties registered.
Because Alpha Chi has been on probation this winter term, it has not used Green Team recently. When the fraternity is off probation, however, Finkelstein said he plans to use Green Team for its events.
