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Over the summer, Harvard College collapsed its centers for minority students, LGBTQ students, and women into a singular entity titled the Office of Culture and Community. It is unclear exactly what programming, if any, has been cut.

What is clear is that Harvard moved to consolidate existing programs, a move that made me think more about the Harvard bureaucracy: How much do students know about different administrative programs here?

In my experience, the answer is: very little. But there are a lot of programs for students to learn about — Harvard should make it easier for affiliates to locate office resources by eliminating functional overlap and clarifying each office’s role. It’s also a smart move in the current climate of financial uncertainty.

A quick look at the College’s website indicates that there are six main offices that host administrative programs. However, the College actually houses significantly more offices under the umbrella of those six . On the College’s website, each has a drop down menu, where twenty-one additional offices and programs appear.

The number of offices housed in the College may not be an outlier for college administrations. However, once students are aware of these offices and programs on campus, they still may run into problems navigating them. The office names aren’t particularly descriptive, making it more difficult for students to know what exact resource meets their needs. The difference between the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Office of Student Services is hardly intuitive.

Both engage in structuring the administrative aspects of undergraduate education at Harvard. It seems possible that such similar purposes could complicate management and smart spending in the face of significant financial pressures.

Some have argued that Harvard has administrative bloat, and would be better served by shrinking the number of administrative staff. I’m not saying that every office does not serve any important role in student life. In fact, they mostly do help to make life at Harvard easier for students. Yet, Harvard pours too much money into these resources and offices for Harvard students to not know how to access or navigate them.

Not addressing the issue soon enough is particularly important given the financial strain Harvard is under — first year programming is one instance. For example, the Office of First-Year Experience is listed on the Dean of Students Office website, while the Advising Program office is located on the Office of Undergraduate Education site. Confused yet? Well it gets even more complicated. Peer-Advising Fellows are housed in the Advising Program Office and Proctors are housed in the Office of First-Year experience in the Dean of Students office. These two groups of people work closely together to develop snack-rich study breaks and other programming for first years.

But housing each group in different offices could create problems for funding. Working with two different budgets can be difficult, if those budgets have different rules and restrictions. In the midst of Harvard’s ongoing financial turmoil, doling out money between a scattering of different offices creates an unnecessary morass that Harvard can’t afford.

Restructuring offices at Harvard to state clearer missions that don’t overlap would allow students to more easily access resources, and help Harvard to spend strategically. While Harvard’s bureaucracy is large, the number of people in Harvard administrative offices isn’t necessarily the problem, but rather the root of the issue lies in an overly complex system, where office roles aren’t clear and they are difficult to navigate.

As Harvard continues its vast restructuring and renaming project, it should independently think about what bureaucratic reforms it could make to truly best support students.

It’s hardly ideal that Harvard faces such financial pressure. But the University can still utilize this moment to do what’s best for students by reevaluating its administrative structure.

Elizabeth R. Place ’27, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a joint concentrator in Slavic Studies and English in Quincy House.