PBHA Returns to the Fold

The undergraduate public service organization Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) has finally achieved entente with the College. By a vote of 12 to 2, PBHA's board of trustees essentially ratified (with some small changes) the agreement from last year that had expired September 1. The vote followed a retreat held by the organization's officers and program leaders at which the students present cast an "advisory vote" of 49 to 11 in favor of the agreement.

Under its terms, the chief operating officer of Phillips Brooks House will be known as the executive director, and will have dual reporting responsibilities: to the College's assistant dean for public service, Judith Kidd, on matters of "fiscal integrity, safety, and the law"; and to the PBHA board with respect to programmatic issues. ("Harvard has no intention of interfering in PBHA's programmatic autonomy," says Dean Kidd.) The agreement also makes permanent the University's recognition of the PBHA board, which includes non-student trustees who have the right to vote.

The agreement brings to an end several years of conflict between PBHA and the College (see PBHA, College to Split?, September-October, page 78). The dispute has revolved around issues of legal liability, accountability, and student concern over programmatic autonomy; had the conflict not been resolved, the College had threatened to evict the association from Phillips Brooks House.

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