On May 27, as students were packing up to leave for the summer, freshman proctors received an unusual request.

An anonymous e-mail, from "John Harvard" at a yahoo.com e-mail address, asked all proctors to fill out a survey about their experience working for the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO), and then send it, anonymously, to Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley "Ibby" Nathans.

The survey, written by a group of proctors, was organized without the consent--or even the knowledge--of administrators in the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO).

According to an introductory note that accompanied the survey, the evaluation was intended to jumpstart a discussion about "the role of proctors: what is working, what is not," and to "prompt the FDO to have [proctors] officially evaluate [their] experience in future years."

The 28-question survey, which was also sent to Nathans, asks proctors whether their direct superior, one of three Assistant Deans of Freshmen, "respected [their] opinion" and "was helpful and supportive to [the proctor's] students."

A proctor who said he was involved in writing the survey (and who would only communicate with The Crimson via the anonymous e-mail address) said the survey was modeled after an official evaluation that first-years fill out about their proctors at the end of the school year.

"People are intrigued. It's kind of weird, because it didn't come from the FDO," said one proctor who asked that her name not be used. "I don't remember anything like this ever happening before."

Nathans refused to give her opinion of the survey itself, but she said the FDO tries hard to get feedback from proctors and students alike.