From ex-gay cooks and marijuana-trafficking managers to fruit flies and food fights, there was never a dull moment in the dining halls this past year.

“It’s a busy place,” said Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) spokesperson Alexandra McNitt. “We’re a large organization and things are always happening.”

Cooking Up Controversy

The most famous HUDS chef this year didn’t gain campus-wide notoriety for his culinary talents.

Annenberg cook Larry Houston, featured in a September cover story of Fifteen Minutes, became the subject of dining hall chatter after telling The Crimson’s weekend magazine he was “ex-gay” and at Harvard to help those “struggling with homosexuality.”

“It’s not just 15 minutes of fame now—it just goes on and on and on,” Houston said last week of his tumultuous year.

In October, the United Ministry and the College both opened their own investigations of Houston to determine if he was proselytizing students, which the United Ministry forbids of its employees.

The United Ministry concluded that Houston is not officially linked with any campus ministry and therefore is not under its jurisdiction.

“I personally think he’s way out of line to be doing anything except doing what he was hired to do,” said United Ministry President the Rev. C. Irving Cummings. “But that’s not my call to make. I’m not his employer.”

The College investigation did not find any cases where Houston proselytized undergraduates, but some students continued to pressure Harvard to act against the cook.

“The University [has] the opportunity to screen out those religious organizations and individuals who would prey upon unsuspecting or vulnerable students,” Christopher L. Pierce ’02 and Jeffrey P. Morgan ’02, two gay student leaders, wrote in a letter to University administrators.

But in a Nov. 1 letter to the two students, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley “Ibby” Nathans rejected the notion of repressing unpopular views.

“[Harvard] can—indeed sometimes must—also provide protection for what most in this community might find uncomfortable or offensive or even extraordinarily misguided or wrong ideas,” she wrote.

But the perception that Harvard was prosecuting Houston for his religious beliefs persisted in some circles.

“Harvard made a big mistake by investigating me,” Houston said. “People from around the country have called, saying, ‘How can we help you? Is Harvard still picking on you?’”