FREEDOM FOR BROOKS HOUSE

The withdrawal of votes in the election of Phillips Brooks House officers from the College electorate to place them in a constituency of men who are connected with the House at least by a slender bond of interest is, in a sense, a declaration of independence. College sentiment toward the P. B. H. has changed in the past few years to a disinterest that refuses to contribute time and effort to its programs. More than a denial to the College of the voting privilege which it has long abused, the latest step of the P. B. H. cabinet is a complete divorce from a dependence which has been favored too long.

The Phillips Brooks House is a Harvard organization appealing to men of certain tastes and interests, just as do other groups in the University. It has a function of service to Harvard which will not be affected by a centralization of control within the walls of the House. Beyond these opportunities to aid the College, there is a definite task awaiting the workers of the House in the city of Cambridge, a genuine need of social work that may be met in part by such college men as care to offer themselves. The confining of the direction of Brooks House policy to officers selected from among men of experience in the work, instead of from a body of undergraduates of no qualifications except success in other fields, cannot fail to benefit the external side of Brooks House activity.

The double service will continue: to Harvard University in general, of offering an information bureau and a clearing house for rooms, and providing meeting places for groups which otherwise would have nowhere to go; to Harvard men of certain inclinations, of opening up fields of social work of undoubted value to the right men. The new policy adopted by the P. B. H. cabinet indicates recognition of limits, which have long been appreciated by observers. In their prompt action on this recognition, the cabinet has been wise.