Dean of Student Life To Retire

Associate Dean of Student Life and Activities Judith H. Kidd will accept the administration’s retirement incentive package and retire from her post this summer, Kidd confirmed to The Crimson yesterday.

“It was a very difficult choice to make, and I suspect it would always be difficult to leave,” Kidd said.

The retirement plan, announced earlier this semester as a cost-cutting measure, allows staff members over 55 years of age with at least 10 years of service as of June 30 to voluntarily choose early retirement.

During the six years since her post was created, Kidd has overseen the openings of the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub and the Harvard College Women’s Center, and has worked to increase opportunities and services for students involved in extracurricular activities.

“I think having an Associate Dean of Student Life and Activities is a very big accomplishment for a school that had previously not given much focus to student life,” Kidd said.

Campus Life Fellow Jason B. McCoy ’08 said that Kidd will be strongly missed in the Student Life and Activities Office, noting that she strikes the perfect balance between humor and pragmatism.

“She’s very strong and doesn’t get pushed around and has the students’ best interest at heart,” said Program Coordinator for Student Events and Activities Haining Gouinlock ’07, who has worked with Kidd both professionally and on committees as a student.

Kidd first came to Harvard in 1996 to serve as Assistant Dean for Public Service and Director of Phillips Brooks House. Kidd’s arrival was marred with controversy as PBHA members grappled with the administration over the organization’s structure and its relationship with the College. The contention continued when Kidd was accused of attempting to fire the long-time PBHA bookkeeper and comptroller—an officer of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers—which pegged Kidd as part of the anti-union administration.

In 2005, Kidd’s relationship with student groups was again thrust into the spotlight after she threatened to shut down a planned student protest of the presence of CIA and Department of Homeland Security recruiters on campus, only to later abandon that position. But this past fall, Kidd reminded the student body of the College’s free speech protections after several members of the Harvard Right to Life group reported that their posters had been vandalized.

Kidd said that in the future she hopes the Student Life and Activities Office will work to increase the amount of faculty involvement in co-curricular activities and continue to foster collaboration between student life and house life.

After retiring, Kidd said she plans to go on an African safari, a trip funded by the money she received from winning the Faculty of Arts and Sciences administrators’ prize last year. The award gives recipients a $7,100 stipend and a month of paid leave in which to use it.

Kidd will also serve as a chair of the Board of Directors of the Brookline Community Foundation.

Kidd said she hopes to find a way to continue working with college students, though she is leaving her options open at the moment.

“I’m trying not to get myself too committed,” Kidd said. “I want to keep myself open to this new period of exploration.”

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Edward-Michael Dussom can be reached at emdussom@fas.harvard.edu.