DormAid Could Face HSA Lawsuit

Several leaders of the student-run cleaning service DormAid are facing the threat of legal action from Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) for an alleged violation of their contracts as former HSA employees.

DormAid co-founder Michael E. Kopko ’07 and his colleagues Jorge R. Aviles ’07, Christopher N. Acton-Maher ’07, and Robert D. Cecot ’08 all decided to resign from their managerial positions at HSA on Aug. 5 to concentrate their efforts on the expansion and maintenance of DormAid.

But according to HSA President Caleb J. Merkl ’06, HSA managers sign one-year contracts and are expected to give two weeks notice if they wish to leave.

Five days after their official resignation, the DormAid executives each received a letter from HSA’s lawyers. According to Kopko, the letter alleged that the students had committed a breach of contract by quitting their HSA jobs and misappropriated intellectual property by using HSA management techniques at DormAid.

Kopko said the letter proposed settlement terms that included ceasing all DormAid operations in the Boston area, never hiring an HSA employee, and paying a significant sum to HSA.

Merkl declined to discuss the terms of the letter, but said it was sent on behalf of the HSA Board of Directors, which includes student leaders and Harvard staff. HSA is a $6 million-a-year nonprofit organization—the largest student-run corporation in the world—that offers a variety of services for students from dry cleaning to appliance rentals. The “Let’s Go” travel guide series is a division of HSA.

According to Merkl, “The students that work at HSA were both shocked and hurt by the boys’ immediate departure.”

“We’re not out to sue other students,” said Merkl. “But we need to protect our own interests.”

He emphasized that no lawsuit has been filed.

Kopko said that he offered to stay on for a few weeks to train his successor, but that HSA turned him down.

“I was both disappointed and angry with the way we had been treated after making the decision to leave HSA,” said Kopko. “We had done nothing wrong.”

Acton-Maher, who is also a Crimson editor, has since decided to leave his position at DormAid and is no longer facing potential legal action, Kopko said.

Kopko and Cecot said the DormAid executives also received communication from the College’s Administrative Board to inform them that an investigation was being conducted, but on Oct. 4 they received word that they would not have to go before the Ad Board.

“The threat of punishment was punishment in itself, especially because we didn’t know when we were going to hear from the Ad Board,” Cecot said.

Kopko and his brother Matthew Kopko, a sophomore at Princeton, founded DormAid last spring to offer professional cleaning services for dorm rooms on both of their campuses. The service has since expanded to Boston University, Babson College, Dickinson College, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania.

The College required DormAid’s leaders to obtain the approval of every House master before launching the service at Harvard, a process that took five months.

The service received widespread publicity last spring after a critical editorial in The Crimson made national headlines and prompted a segment on “The Daily Show.”