Divinity Group Must End Runaway Haven

Divinity School students must close down their Somerville apartment, set up in January for runaway teenagers, to avoid the charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

At a hearing yesterday morning, the judge at the Somerville District Court said that he "would issue a complaint" against Peter M. Brigham '70 unless the Inter-Seminarian Benevolent Association House "was out of Somerville by mid-night tonight," according to John Fauvre, a second-year law student affiliated with the House.

The hearing was called because of Brigham's failure to report a 14-year-old runaway girl to the Somerville police last Saturday, Fauvre said.

"We could stay and fight it out in court," Peter A. Callaway, a third-year Divinity School student and president of the House, said yesterday, "but we're leaving as soon as possible. We want to direct our efforts toward the kids rather than toward the principle of the case."

The House will be renting a new apartment in Boston, Callaway said.