It has been five years since the student volunteers of Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) clashed with the administration in the biggest rally in recent memory.

Now, an uneasy calm reigns within the College's largest service organization. Despite what both sides call good faith efforts to restore order, certain institutional problems continue to plague the tenuous marriage of PBHA and the College administration.

In September of 1997, the PBHA Board of Trustees voted 12 to two to approve a compromise settlement that would keep PBHA within the University's purview indefinitely, ostensibly ending a three-year skirmish between students and administrators for control over the University's umbrella service organization.

Nearly three years later, student leaders have worked to return PBHA's focus to its programs, leaving aside the bitter political battles with the College. But the difficulties have not gone away.

Student leaders say they've never been entirely comfortable with the PBHA administrator, Assistant Dean for Public Service Judith H. Kidd.

And many PBHA students say they are confused by the complex governing structure created by the 1997 agreement. Two separate bodies purport to oversee PBHA's operations. One is the Board of Trustees, of which eight of 18 are students. The other is the PBHA Cabinet, made up entirely of students.

Students and administrators disagree over which governing body, the Trustees or the Cabinet, has the ultimate say within the organization.

So, the struggle for control of one of the campus's largest organizations continues, leaving many to wonder if the conflict has impacted the quality PBHA has to offer.

Who Governs Whom?

Compounding PBHA's current difficulties is its complex governing structure--particularly the degree to which the organization is tied to the Harvard administration.

PBHA members and administrators themselves can't quite agree on the all-important question of which body--the Trustees or the Cabinet--has final decision-making power over PBHA programs.

"By being a part of the Cabinet, [students] are a part of the governing body of PBHA," affirms Natalie Guerrier '01, PBHA's president since January.

"The Cabinet is the governing body, which is why we are a student-run organization," she adds.

By contrast, administrators cite the 1997 agreement which names the Board of Trustees as the governing body.

"The official wording is: 'Harvard University recognizes the Board of Trustees of Phillips Brooks House Association, Inc. as the governing body of the Phillips Brooks House Association student organization, as the PBHA Cabinet recognizes the Board as its governing body," Kidd wrote in an e-mail message.

Student volunteers say the structure of the organization is difficult to understand.