HSA Students Press For Greater Control

In an unexpectedly bold maneuver this week, undergraduate leaders of Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) moved to reverse what they called increasing professional control over the student-run corporation, administrators and HSA members said yesterday.

HSA student leaders last weekend drew on corporate bylaws to draft an amendment that would create a de facto student majority on the organization's board of directors. Currently, seven-member delegations of students, HSA alumni and University faculty make up the board. One ex-professional staff member brings the total number ot 23. The proposed amendment would boost the number of students to 15.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III and HSA managers said the measure arises from a worsening atmosphere in which undergraduates feel increasingly powerless. The problems have intensified in recent years of rising profits and growing professional input to HSA activities, they said.

"There's a lot of tension between the interests of students and interests of non-students," Publishing Manager Mark Selwyn '90 said. HSA student directors Gina L. Berardi '89, Akira Hirai '89 and Andrea Piperakis '89 organized the drive.

By garnering 63 HSA employee signatures over the weekend, directors essentially challenged administrators for decisive control of HSA, Selwyn said. The students collected almost double the total needed to petition for a vote to change the board structure. About 350 eligible HSA members will be asked to vote at an annual general board meeting on November 9.

The support of two-thirds of voting employees will be needed to pass the amendment, which seems likely given the virtually unanimous support for the petition last week, he said.

Administrators are holding emergency meetings with student leaders this morning and next Tuesday to contest the petition's legality or to negotiate a compromise, said Epps, a 17-year member of the board. The process would be halted if students agree to withdraw the petition, he said.

If the change passes, it would be impossible for the board of directors to muster the three-fourths majority needed to override it if students band together, Selwyn said.

Student directors reached yesterday refused to speak on the record. Director Lee Sanders '90 said, "As members of the board we can't responsibly comment on the issue."

HSA President and board member Vivian Hunt '89also declined to comment, saying that theamendment motion is corporation business and couldnot be discussed until directors reviewed thepetition.

But a manager who asked to remain anonymoussaid student opinion rarely reached board memberswho infrequently "set foot" at HSA. "There's noway the board can get a handle on the truthbecause there aren't enough students on theboard," the student said. The manager said thatthe frustrations over student access to the boardand control of the company are not new but thisyear marks the first time a broad majority of HSAleaders share the view.

"Generally, I think students feel that theywould like to have more discretionary authority inthe conduct of their business especially in lightof the fact that we have increased the number ofprofessional employees at HSA," said Epps.

There are currently eight full-timeprofessionals at HSA, Epps said. That number wasreached three years ago after HSA lost money forseveral years. a trend which has since been turnedaround mostly due to professional help, he said.

Central to the debate over student independenceis the role of the professional HSA generalmanager, who since 1982 has been Hope Spruance.The general manager works directly with thestudent president to determine company managementand to present student opinion to the board.

One manager, who asked to remain anonymous,charged that Spruance waged "psychologicalwarfare" against students, threatening firings,keeping wages low and blocking student projectsfor no reason. Others close to HSA management, whoasked not to be named, echoed this opinion,agreeing that Spruance intimidated and belittledstudents.

Pruance refused to comment about HSA activitieswhen contacted last night.

But Epps said his initial reaction to thepetition was to check its legality given theframework of HSA's charter to the University. Hesaid part of the corporation's Harvard chartercalls for it to serve in an educational role foremployees and to contribute to the University'sfinancial aid program. He said that limiting thepower of administrators and alumni on the boardmay hamper these mandates.

"I have to make decisions for the long-run goodof Harvard College," Epps said.

But Epps added that he saw room for compromise."Quite frankly, there may be ways of addressingthe problem without radically changing thestructure and putting [HSA's] future at risk," hesaid.

But students played down these concerns. "Idon't think by making the majority of students wewill suddenly become inept," Selwyn said. But heagreed with Epps that passage of the amendment maynot be the only solution to current problems.

"If it does fall away, it still says somethingabout HSA that a group of students were followingthe bylaws very closely and then they were stillbeing blocked," Selwyn said.

HSA employs more than 1300 students and earnsgross revenues of over $2 million each year, withnet income ranging between $20,000 and $50,000 inthe past five years, Selwyn said