Refilling the Pot

More than six months ago--with the Hasty Pudding Club teetering on the verge of bankruptcy--the organization's leadership announced it would take speedy action to clear up the club's $150,000-plus debt. But it was not until last week that the club's graduate board finally began to finalize plans to refill the famous "Pudding pot."

In the wake of nationwide publicity last April, Pudding leaders announced that they would launch a massive capital fund drive sometime this fall. However, Frank Hood '82, the Pudding's undergraduate president, said last week the club has been forced to defer the $600,000 project because University officials feared it would interfere with Harvard's own capital campaign.

Instead, the club will launch a stepped-up version of its annual alumni fund drive, which Hood said should cover most of the Pudding's outstanding debts.

"Some of the debts are bizarre ones--mortgages and personal loans at non-interest," Hood said, adding that the funds raised would be used to pay the club's back taxes, debts to local merchants, unpaid utility bills, and a debt to Harvard of approximately $30,000.

The club has taken other action to keep itself solvent--including laying off all of its full-time employees and leasing the top floor of the clubhouse to a gourmet restaurant.

The Pudding should save about $65,000 in salaries and hopes to reap $20,000 on the restaurant rental, Hood said. Leases of the Pudding's theatre to the American Repertory Theater and other groups should bring the club an additional $30,000, he added.

Pudding leaders are counting on these arrangements to pay the club's operational expenses. But the possibility of failure is one reason the independent Pudding is complying with the University's fund-raising request.

As Hood said, "If for some reason the Pudding went under, we'd want Harvard to take it over from Cambridge Trust."