Harvard Student Agencies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Harvard Student Agencies, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Type | 501(c)3 non-profit |
| Founded | Harvard University, 1957 |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, MA, United States |
| Website | www.hsa.net |
Harvard Student Agencies Inc. (HSA) is the largest student-run corporation in the world. As a $6 million nonprofit company, it consists of nine different agencies that are each headed by a student manager. Each agency provides a different valuable service to the Harvard community while giving students practical business experience.
The organization was founded in 1957 to help defray rising tuition costs while providing practical business experience and supplying valuable, necessary services to the Harvard community. They carry out this mission by presenting myriad diverse opportunities with one objective in common: to provide the highest quality jobs available to Harvard students. [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
"...to conduct and supervise enterprises for the benefit of students of Harvard University who are in need of financial assistance to defray the expenses of their education; to provide opportunities for such students to be gainfully employed; to study, cultivate, promote, and encourage new business ventures to afford additional employment opportunities for such students; to provide experience for its members." - HSA Charter, December 13, 1957
HSA was founded in 1957 on the ideal of financing education through student employment. With Harvard's tuition on the rise, members of the Financial Aid Office were concerned that the increased cost of higher education would adversely affect the social and economic make-up of those applying to Harvard. At the same time, some ambitious students were running small-scale businesses out of their dorm rooms. By using Harvard's facilities to operate their businesses, these entrepreneurs jeopardized the university's real estate tax exemption. John Munro '35, Dean of Financial Aid, assigned Dustin M. Burke '52, Director of Student Employment, to investigate student businesses as a possible source of financial aid and to begin developing the idea that would become Harvard Student Agencies.
Later that spring, a meeting with student managers revealed considerable interest in the idea of a corporation, and more concrete plans began to emerge. With an initial capital investment of $7,000 and the acquisition of the rights to provide the weekly linen service traditionally offered by the university, HSA was equipped to carry its corporate overhead. The remaining pieces quickly fell into place. In August 1957, the papers authorizing a new company were filed. On September 10, the new corporation's first meeting was held. On December 13, 1957, the charter was signed recognizing the six original incorporators: John Munro, Dustin Burke, Greg Stone, John Giannetti, Theordore Elliot, and Harold Rosenwald.[2]
[edit] The Harvard Shop, Inc.
The Harvard Shop is a subsidiary of HSA, and operates a retail store located on 52 JFK St., in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adjacent to the historic heart of Harvard University, Harvard Yard, the Shop sells Harvard apparel and merchandise, including t-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, sweatshirts, and gifts, to Harvard students as well as tourists visiting Harvard University. Like the rest of HSA's agencies, The Shop is completely student-run.
[edit] Let's Go, Inc.
Let's Go is a travel guide series started in 1960 when the introduction of affordable flights to Europe prompted a group of enterprising Harvard students to put together a 210-page pamphlet of travel tips for a new breed of traveler - the student on a budget. This best-selling budget travel guide series hires over 150 students each year to completely revise and update all 48 titles. Hiring for editors, associate editors, and researcher/writers occurs at the beginning of the second academic semester. [3]
