So it seems that PBH is not tied in a static position to Harvard, but can do what it wants. So if Harvard is not "slanted" toward community work, it must be possible for PBH to fill that gap.

This slant is why publicity has become a concern at PBH. There is now a member of the executive committee in charge of publicity, and this fall the House sent out its first pre-registration mailing to freshmen. Executives cite a higher turn-out at the traditional open houses at the start of the past two semesters. The almost 400 PBH volunteers received the first volunteer newsletter this December, telling them about developments in some of the other committees, about new programs, and about impending executive elections.

However, the number of actual volunteers on the PBH records has remained approximately the same as last year. The figure has hovered at just below four hundred for the past five years, after a 1967-68 peak of just under 1000 volunteers. But executives point out the faddish nature of much of late 1960's volunteering. "The numbers don't necessarily reflect a greater commitment," says Steve Cooke.

PBH leaders see the problem of recruiting as attracting the kind of people in the first place who are willing to give the extra time and energy that everyone in the House agrees is needed for social change. It's easier to sign up to tutor once or twice a week than to interview, lobby, and organize.

Sandler says his Prisons committee has problems attracting volunteers interested in the political aspects of prison reform. "We need to figure out how to get commitments out of students," Sandler says. He says students' understanding of the role of volunteers needs to be changed. "They think what they'd like to do is develop a relationship with an individual. Political change is a different story. It's somewhat more abstract, but has a hell of a lot of impact...I'm not sure the most political people come to Phillips Brooks House."

So PBH wants to fight the attitudes at Harvard and Radcliffe that stop students from doing anything that doesn't produce any immediate results. The new president feels that the University's structure fosters that student attitude, but he and his cabinet want to recruit and educate volunteers in the hopes of making some change in a system they have unconsciously helped to perpetuate.