PBHA Compromise Nearing

The rift between Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and the University administration showed signs of narrowing yesterday, as both sides offered new compromises toward ending their feud.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III had threatened to remove PBHA's standing as a student group if they insisted on creating a board of directors with non-student voting members.

Epps said yesterday that he would not insist on appointing Assistant Dean of Public Service Judith H. Kidd as executive director of PBHA, another sore point with students.

Instead, Epps said he would appoint another "administrator for PBHA" who would be solely in charge of overseeing the public service organization.

The administrator would be chosen by a search committee which would include students.

"They have to give up the notion of appointing somebody called the 'executive director," said Epps. "We would give up the request that they elect Judith Kidd [as the director] that their current bylaws specify."

Epps said he agrees with the students' arguments that Kidd's duties as assistant dean of public service prevent her from devoting the time to PBHA that student leaders say is necessary.

But he does not want to allow the students to have final decision-making in the hiring of an executive director, as they proposed.

However, the new administrator would still report to the University administration. To student leaders of PBHA, that is unacceptable.

"The main issue is not how they're chosen--there is no question that they will be well chosen--but who do they report to?" said Andrew J. Ehrlich '96-'97, the president of PBHA.

"If their job is to be supporting PBHA's programs and students, they need to be accountable to PBHA," he said.

"The issues for us are accountability and responsibility, which we don't feel an administrator can have working for two separate corporations," said PBHA treasurer Roy E. Bahat '97.

Although he will not yield on his ban on non-student voting members on the governing board, Epps expressed his willingness to sit on the board.

He also said that Kidd and Professor of Government and Sociology Theda Skocpol are also amenable to board positions. Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 would also appoint a member of the board.

Student groups are not usually allowed to have non-student members on their governing boards. One exception is Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) because of the complex skills needed to run the business organization.

The consequences of PBHA losing its status as a student group include the loss of $750,000 in University funding and their eviction from Phillips Brooks House.

Epps said he will grant a "partial exception" to PBHA by creating "special trustees" for the board.

"I now understand very well why they want a formal board," said Epps.

His proposal, as outlined in a letter to The Crimson (please see page 10), said that the trustees would "participate fully in its deliberations, offer advice on fund-raising and fiscal accountability and strengthen organizational memory."

Epps also said that he was willing to grant PBHA a two-year "period of experimentation." If a review at the end of this year is positive, he "will be happy to grant the full exception [of having voting non-student members]."

Ehrlich said that Epps' willingness to compromise is promising, but that he does not wish to comment further without the written proposals from the dean. The "partial exception" offered by Epps however, is not a substantial change, he said.

"I, too, hope for compromise, provided that certain principles are maintained," Ehrlich said.

"These principles are the full participation of all trustees--full participation means that all are voting members--and accountability, that is necessary in the decision-making process," he said.

PBHA has also presented its own counter proposal, that there be a majority of students on the governing board so that there would always be undergraduate control.

Kidd declined to comment on new developments.

"I don't think it's wise to conjecture on that until we have discussed things with the students," said Kidd.

But other members involved in PBHA and the administration said they felt tentatively optimistic.

"There has been movement toward a solution," said Ehrlich.