After striking a compromise to end their 22-month-long dispute in July, the College and the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) leadership enter this semester hoping to put last year's confrontations behind them and to successfully run one of the University's largest organizations together.

The compromise comes on the heels of a tumultuous year that included bitter public criticism by PBHA President Andrew J. Ehrlich '96-'97 of the appointment of Judith H. Kidd as the assistant dean for public service, and a threat by Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III to kick PBHA off campus.

The PBHA leadership had feared that the choice of Kidd by Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 signaled a move towards increased College control over the organization.

In particular, they feared that as the College administration became more closely involved with Phillips Brooks House (PBH), students would risk losing autonomy over PBH's public service programs.

But students were reluctant to risk severing ties with the College altogether in order to preserve programmatic control because of Harvard's financial hold over PBH's resources.

The College owns the PBH building and leases it to PBHA rent-free. Harvard also pays the salaries of many PBH staffers and covers the organization's insurance.

So when Epps' letter reached Ehrlich in April, the PBHA president says he was "frustrated" by its "rather absolute" position.

According to Ehrlich, Epps cited a long-standing College rule prohibiting student organizations from having non-student voting members on their boards and threatened to kick PBHA off campus if it hired an executive director or allowed non-students on their board of trustees.

Because having an executive director is essential for PBH to continue receiving grant money from organizations like Stride Rite, Ehrlich could not accede to Epps' demands.

Ehrlich and Kidd began their negotiations after Ehrlich received Epps' letter.

Epps and Lewis wanted more input into PBH's programmatic content than they had when PBH was governed by PBHA and its permanent staff, including then-executive director Greg A. Johnson '72.

The assistant dean for public service, whose job description incorporated Johnson's duties, was introduced by Lewis last fall and Johnson was forced out.

Both sides see the agreement as a reasonable fulfillment of their desires.

The compromise gives the administration increased oversight and authority in "areas of safety, fiscal integrity and compliance with relevant University and legal requirements."

At the same time, the compromise affirms PBHA's desire to have greater control over its programming by promising "programmatic autonomy under student leadership of PBHA's complex activities," according to the written agreement.

"We have gained a functioning board of trustees which will, for the first time, bring together stakeholder groups in PBHA's operations and its management," Ehrlich says.