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Harvard College will no longer designate residential proctors and tutors to serve as dedicated support for LGBTQ and first-generation or low-income students, instead folding their responsibilities into a new “Culture and Community” specialty role.
The change, which was announced in a Monday email to residential life staff from Associate Dean of Students Lauren E. Brandt, is the latest in a series of moves by the College to scale back its programs dedicated to students of specific identities.
The newly-designated Culture and Community proctors and tutors will work to “foster cultivation of bonds and bridges to enable all members of our community to grow with and learn from each other,” according to a document Brandt disseminated in her Monday email.
“The goal is to support event planning, amplify outreach, and increase student-driven programming,” it states.
The document does not acknowledge the positions previously held by BGLTQ or FGLI tutors, and its description of the responsibilities of Culture and Community tutors does not mention providing support to students with specific backgrounds or identities. Several House websites still reference certain tutors as BGLTQ or FGLI tutors and include statements affirming the importance of those identities. The Dean of Students Office website also still lists BGLTQ and FGLI proctors for freshmen living in Harvard Yard.
Proctors and tutors live in freshman dorms and upperclassman Houses, where they act as advisers and plan activities for Harvard College students. The College also has specialty roles for Consent Advocates & Relationship Educators, or CARE tutors; public service tutors; and wellness tutors. Other tutors advise students on research, fellowships, and pre-professional pathways.
In July, the College quietly scrubbed the websites for its three major diversity offices — the Women’s Center, Office for BGLTQ Student Life, and Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations — before announcing it would consolidate those programs into a singular “Harvard Foundation” later that month.
The expanded Foundation will be housed under the College’s new Office of Culture and Community, which was created in July to replace the existing diversity office.
Brandt wrote in the Monday email that the changes to specialty roles were made to “reflect changes to partner offices and units over the summer which impacted some of the previously existing roles.”
On Wednesday, former associate dean of students for inclusion and belonging Alta Mauro, who recently assumed the title “Associate Dean of Students for Culture and Community,” announced the changes regarding specialty tutors during a College-wide residential staff training that included a presentation from Mauro and question-and-answer session.
During the Q&A, some tutors asked Mauro why the changes were necessary, expressing the view that LGBTQ and FGLI programming has never been exclusionary and always open to all members of a House. Mauro sought to emphasize that the changes could help make clear that programming would be open to everyone, according to two tutors in attendance.
Harvard College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment, referring to Brandt’s email.
Houses began appointing BGLTQ tutors more than 25 years to cultivate a supportive environment for LGBTQ students. The role has traditionally included hosting individual meetings with students, as well as programming and events.
Cabot House, for instance, lists several examples of “successful” BGLTQ events on its website, including “BGLTQ+ Movie Night, Discussion Groups, Cabot Poetry Society, and Queer Café.”
The changes to Harvard’s undergraduate living spaces arrive as Harvard continues to eliminate references to diversity, equity, and inclusion programming — as well as programs tied to race and gender — facing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
In April, the Trump administration demanded an end to Harvard’s DEI programming as a condition for restoring access to billions of dollars in federal research funding. The administration sent Harvard a confidential memo on April 3 demanding the “elimination” of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.
Though Harvard sued the administration over the legality of the freeze in April, in subsequent months, the University has sought to scour the language of diversity from its websites, programming, and offices. It has also embarked on a round of restructuring that has left many students feeling in the dark — and wondering which programs will return next semester.
Shortly after Harvard’s central diversity office was renamed to “Community and Campus Life,” Harvard announced that it would no longer host or fund affinity group celebrations during Commencement — which was met with fierce backlash from affinity groups, several of which proceeded with unofficial ceremonies.
Celebrations for FGLI and LGBTQ graduates were among those independently organized in May.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.
