PBH Budget

To The Editors of the Crimson:

I wanted to thank you for taking time out to write so carefully about the PBH grants cutbacks. Your article describes accurately the financial difficulty we at PBH are experiencing.

I would just like to add a note of clarification for Crimson readers. I feel the article may convey a negative sense of Harvard University's support for PBH. During my interview, I said that the University does give PBH support, but I wished that the University might see its way to support us more. This is not to say that they don't do much for us. Though I do feel that PBH is low on the University' priority list, I did say this when one compares PBH to other departments of Harvard which are much more established through the years.

Let me clarify that PBH does depend on any support Harvard can lend. Without the Harvard Development office showing us how to fundraise, giving us a list of alumni, and offering the use of telephones, we would never have been able to bring our alumni drive from 15,000 in the past years to 38,000 last year. Without President Bok's active support in attending Endowment events and encouraging Harvard alumni to give to PBH, our endowment campaign would not have been as successful.

In our endeavor to raise the Phillips Brooks House to a firmer financial standing, we have come to depend on our thousand volunteers and our 12,000 PBH alumnae first. However, Harvard's assistance in this effort has been essential every step of the way. Van L. Truong '89   President, PBHA