Word: rth
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...response to the pressure of the Strike, Dr. Robert H. Ebert, dean of the Medical School, announced that Harvard was "prepared" to build "low-cost" housing for the RTH families. On May 6, 1969, Harvard promised that "no residential displacement will occur until a similar amount of replacement housing, at comparable rents and in nearby areas, is available for those families to be relocated." Dean Ebert established a committee, chaired by Dr. Rashi Fein, Professor of the Economics of Medicine, to deal with relocation, low-cost housing, health care planning and community relations...
...Fein Committee was composed of Harvard faculty, students, and employees. Tenants got representation on the committee only after lobbying by students--but Harvard still did not recognize RTH as a legitimate community organization. The establishment of a special subcommittee to deal with RTH only made matters worse. "These committees, this bureaucratic ladder appears to have been set up solely to insulate the community from the persons with the authority to negotiate our future," RTH complained...
...February, RTH had lost its patience with the Fein Committee. The group gave its unanimous approval to a relocation housing development proposal, drawn up by the tenants themselves with the assistance of John Sharratt. This proposal was included in an 86-page document, published that March, that detailed the history of Harvard's relationship with the community. The tone of the report is one of slowly building frustration and distrust, culminating in anger and determination: "We can no longer assume that Harvard can independently make any decision in the interest of the community. They have demonstrated themselves as hostile, aggressive...
...development proposal called for a "cooperative effort" that would guarantee "Harvard and its institutional affiliates...the expansion of facilities that they feel is necessary" and guarantee RTH "the security of shelter and stabilization and strengthening of the entire community that they feel is necessary." RTH called on Harvard to maintain the existing housing in good repair until the University could provide housing at affordable rents. The tenants specifically proposed that Harvard build this relocation housing on the 10-acre Convent site, with "RTH and/or their designee" as "sponsor and developer...
Harvard agreed, and the Corporation gave its assent to the proposal. But RTH's battle was not yet won; for the next four years, members of the group continued to meet with the Corporation in an effort to reach agreement on the final plans and on the choice of a developer. According to Sharratt, RTH rejected the first developer "on principle, because Harvard proposed him." The group also rejected the second developer because it felt that "Harvard was controlling him." The third developer, H. Ralph Taylor '39, was acceptable to both parties, but another corporation which soon went bankrupt bought...