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.

"We have also gained a staff position [executive agent] whose primary focus is the development and well-being of PBHA, a job [which] could not be adequately and sufficiently done by the assistant dean [Kidd]," he says.

Ehrlich says monetary concerns played a significant role in deciding to work towards a compromise, but adds that continuing to be part of the University community was a far more important factor.

Ultimately, Ehrlich says he is "not completely" satisfied by the agreement reached.

There are things in the compromise that are not what I would wish in an ideal sense," he says, citing the fact that the executive agent will report jointly to Kidd and PBHA.

Ehrlich says he would prefer that the executive agent, like the former position of executive director, report only to PBHA.

Ehrlich, however, says that the issue of the executive agent was not significant enough to override other concerns.

He says Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles told him, "Given that [PBH] accepts Harvard's liability insurance and given that [PBH] lives in a Harvard building rent-free, [it] incurs and opens Harvard to a certain amount of risk in [its] activity."

Both sides have agreed to a 15-month trial period to end next September 1, at which time the agreement will be re-evaluated.

What Was Compromised

The compromise creates a board of trustees to oversee PBH that includes non-student voting members--a significant concession by the College in light of Epps' letter. The board is comprised of administrators, PBHA student leaders, community members and alumni.

"This is a decision on which Harvard and PBHA must agree, which clearly the assistant deanship was not," Ehrlich says.

Kidd says she is happy with the compromise and gives Ehrlich and the PBHA student leadership a great deal of credit for "reaching out" and finalizing the agreement.

Three administrators and the president and vice president of PBHA hold voting, ex officio positions on the board of trustees. In the future, other members will be selected by a standing nominating committee consisting of two elected board members and will be voted on by the PBHA cabinet, which is made up of all of PBH's program directors.

Elected members will be allowed to serve only two consecutive three-year terms. After sitting out for one year, members will again be eligible to sit on the board for two terms.

Creation of a board that includes non-student voting members is an unusual step for the College.

Although Harvard Student Agencies' (HSA) board of directors includes non-student voting members, that exception was granted 30 years ago.

But Epps says that the compromise over having non-student voting members on PBHA's board of trustees is subject to review and, thus, this exception should not be considered permanent.

The issue is particularly difficult for the dean because, as Epps told The Crimson in June, similar reasoning was used to keep Harvard Christians in Action, a controversial student organization that included student members of the Boston Church of Christ, off campus two years ago.

Although this aspect of the compromise may not be permanent, College administrators say PBH's programs are complex enough to necessitate significant non-student input. It is unclear, however, whether this part of the compromise--one of its most important aspects--will be reapproved next September.

For the time being, elected board members include: Anne Peretz, the chair of PBHA's Association Committee--a pre-existing advisory board comprised of faculty and community members; Agee Professor of Social Ethics Robert Coles '50; Board of Overseers member Doris Kearns Goodwin; former PBHA president Van Truong '89; Medical School instructor Barbara Ogur '69; Winthrop House Master Paul Hanson; Harvard's Episcopal Chaplain the Rev. G. Stewart Barnes; and Gary Bailey, the executive director of a public service organization called Parents and Childrens Services.

The elected members were selected by a nominating committee that included Ehrlich, Association Committee member Robert J. Kiely '60 and Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah, among others.

Lots will be drawn to determine which elected members will serve three-year, two-year, or one-year terms among the initial members so that, in the future, no more than three members will be replaced each year.

Kidd, Epps and Professor of Government and Sociology Theda Skocpol, who chairs the Faculty's standing committee on public service, will serve as the administration's ex officio members.

Lewis was not offered a place on the board because, according to Ehrlich, his position is represented by Epps, Skocpol and Kidd.

"She [Kidd] is his [Lewis'] point person on public service," Ehrlich says.

Epps' seat on the board is surprising because up until his letter to Ehrlich, PBHA-related matters were handled publicly by Lewis and his predecessor, L. Fred Jewett '57.

Although the letter dealt with matters directly related to the regulation of student groups, for which Epps is responsible, Epps will continue to play an important role in the PBHA negotiations as an ex officio board member and as the man whose office has been charged with conducting the September evaluation.

Epps brings much to the negotiating table. In particular, as a new-comer, he does not have the baggage among students of having selected Kidd.

The Executive Agent

The executive agent, who will be chosen jointly by the board of PBHA and Kidd, will oversee PBH's programs.

Peretz says the rationale behind the creation of the executive agent position was that the agent will report to Kidd on issues of safety and some financial issues, and to the board on programmatic issues.

Kidd says she expects a final job description for the executive agent to be drawn up at the board of directors retreat Thursday.

"We want to recognize PBHA's total programmatic independence from the University," Kidd says. "We all have to work together collaboratively to serve PBHA's programs."

Ehrlich says, however, that he would prefer that Kidd does not function in "any special capacity" during the selection of the executive agent, but merely as a board member.

Kidd, who brought to her job a great deal of fundraising experience, will also likely play a prominent role in PBHA's fundraising, although her financial responsibilities as dean do not extend to fundraising for PBHA.

Kidd says she hopes to be included on any fundraising committees.

"I would be a good link between PBHA and the University's development office," she says.

And, on this point, Ehrlich agrees.

The Evaluation

Pending minor changes coming out of this week's board of directors retreat, the compromise is in place until its review by Epps' office on September 1, 1997.

Kidd says that both sides settled on 15 months because it was decided two years was too long for a trial period. But conducting the review in June, 1997 was considered premature since that would not include PBH's summer programs.

And although Epps' office is charged with conducting the review, Kidd says that since Epps is a board member, she expects that the review will be "worked out on the board."

"The provisional agreement will be permanent if students get support and a sense of longevity from an external board," Kidd says.

Ehrlich, too, says Epps' office should not be the sole guiding hand in the evaluation.

"It is going to require sensitivity and cooperation by both sides," he says.

By the time the review is conducted, both Ehrlich and Vice President Hahrie C. Han '97, who were active in negotiating the original compromise, are scheduled to have graduated.

Han, in particular, told The Crimson in June after the compromise was initially announced that she was not satisfied with the agreement.

Although PBHA's two main student leaders may be gone, Peretz says institutional memory will not be a problem for PBHA, as its student leadership continues to prepare the "next line."

And Ehrlich urges future generations of PBHA leaders to continue evaluating what is best for the organization.

"It is best to remain part of Harvard," he says. "I can't imagine a time when it wouldn't be, but I think that behavior over the next years will dictate the best course of action."

The compromise will also have an immediate impact on one of PBHA's most significant alumni organizations, the Association Committee that is chaired by Peretz.

Members of PBHA's Association Committee--a non-student-member body without voting power--say the creation of the board renders their committee obsolete.

Peretz says that while "nobody has voted [the Association Committee] out of existence, it is probably redundant as an Association Committee."

"But the members will be extremely important for the new board--particularly around alumni affairs and development," says Peretz.

Coles and Peretz are the only two members of the Association Committee to be elected to the board of directors.

What's Next?

The compromise and the continued resolution of the conflict between Harvard and PBHA stand to define the future of this nearly century-old organization.

In particular, the compromise may have an important impact on PBHA's ability to launch a major fundraising drive for its 100th anniversary in the year 2000.

"I would hope that the board could work collaboratively with Dean Kidd to develop and implement a major centennial campaign with class credit," Ehrlich says.

Douglas M. Pravda contributed to the reporting of this story.