Monro Says HSA Needs Student Advisory Group

Dean Monro yesterday advised the Harvard Student Agencies to work closely with a permanent "advisory group that reflects accurately and quickly feelings about the HSA in the Houses and the Yard."

One of the founders of the Agencies and a member of its Board of Directors, Monro said that he hoped such an arrangement would result from the current citicism about HSA, inspired by several House Committees. "HSA's present difficulty," he added, "has come from a problem much the same as the Student Council's -it has failed to keep up with the power of the Houses."

HSA's first move, said Monro, should be "to sit down right away with House Committee representatives." They could then decide whether to disclose public accounts of financial records, he commented.

"The organization is not half as sinister as people imply," said the Dean. "I am satisfied in my own mind that suspicions about HSA are marginal and that at heart HSA is a worthwhile enterprise."

Burke Gives Positions

Monro also confirmed yesterday that the high-paying managerial positions are given to students by Dustin M. Burke '52, Director of Student Employment and of the Harvard Student Agencies. Because one man has the power to select holders of HSA's top jobs "there are perhaps grounds for wariness but of course Burke is patient, reliable, and careful in his position," Monro argued.

Monro said the Agencies' purpose is to offer financial opportunities for needy students and for those who have an interest and skill in business. Burke, however, in his last report on the Student Employment program described "the express purpose" of HSA to provide "capital and facilities whereby needy students might operate businesses to earn money needed to meet their college expenses; to raise funds for scholarships for needy and deserving students; and to offer such students an opportunity to witness and participate in the operation of a business surprise as part of their extracurricular activities while at Harvard College."

Monro said that he did not find the two views contradictory, claiming that "there are plenty of jobs to go around in the Harvard community" and indicating that no needy student is denied an HSA job.