DuBois Petition Gains Support Of PBH Board

The executive committee of Phillips Brooks House advised President Bok Monday that it is giving its "full support" to the United Committee of Third World Organizations' 12-point proposal for the W.E.B. DuBois Institute.

The PBH letter, released to the public yesterday, is the latest in a series of challenges to the proposed program for the institute which was developed by an advisory committee appointed by Bok a year ago.

The full executive board of PBH signed the letter after it was approved by PBH's officers and committee chairmen.

Walter J. Leonard, special assistant to Bok and chairman of the DuBois advisory committee, said yesterday that implementation of his committee's report would not be postponed despite the growing opposition to the report's provisions.

Leonard said that his committee's report, submitted to Bok last December, will be made public today.

Opportunity to Learn

"The W.E.B. DuBois Institute as proposed by [the United Committee] would provide students with the opportunity to learn through practical work experience," the PBH letter states. "This synthesis of theory and practice would enable students and scholars to find new means of bringing about the social changes which W.E.B. DuBois deemed necessary."

In its letter, the PBH executive committee specifically supports the United Committee's recommendations that there be a "formal bond" between the DuBois Institute and the Afro-American Studies Department and that the institute's director hold a chair in the Afro Department.

The Leonard report stipulates no link between the institute and the department, and recommends only that the director be a tenured member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The United Committee has been conducting a petition drive for the past two weeks in an effort to gain student and faculty support for its 12-point proposal.

The PBH letter also recommends that students actively participate in the formation and supervision of the institute through a faculty-student advisory committee.

The Leonard report recommends that Bok appoint an advisory committee composed of Harvard faculty, leading Afro-American scholars and members of the black community.

"We hope that our recommendations will receive immediate and close consideration," the PBH letter concludes.

Says Little Will Come

Stephen D. Cook '75, president of PBH, said yesterday he "doesn't really expect anything to come of the letter. It was just a means of expressing our support."

Cook said PBH has not yet received a reply from Bok, who was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The PBH executive committee decided to support the United Committee's program because it reflected "significant student input into running the institute," while the Leonard report "ignored student interests to a large extent," Cook said.

Leonard said yesterday the students who support the United Committee's petition drive may know "nothing of what the report is about."

"Students have not read the Leonard committee report, so it would belittle students to say they're signing a petition in opposition to a report they have not read," he said.

Leonard also said, "I stand on my position and I've said all I have to say about the institute.