LETTER: Dudley Provides Community for VUS

To the editors:

We are writing to correct an error in an otherwise very positive and illuminating article about the Visiting Undergraduate Student program by Julie M. Zauzmer (“Visiting Harvard,” Oct. 27, 2010).  In the final section of the article the reporter wrote, "Despite their immersion in most academic and extracurricular facets of Harvard, VUS are not included in one important area of undergraduate life: the House system."  Although the article is referring to the fact that VUS are not able to live on campus due to overcrowding, it creates a misconception that the visiting students are without the advising structure, support, and programming that the House system provides.  In fact, for the past three years the visiting students have been affiliated with Dudley House, and they have been an important part of the Dudley undergraduate community (which also includes Dudley Co-operative Society members and off-campus students who are affiliated with Dudley).

As members of the Dudley undergraduate community, VUS have House advisers who are part of the tutorial staff.  The visiting students also have the support of the Coordinator of Visiting Student Advising (a Dudley tutor), the Undergraduate Coordinator for Dudley, the Resident Dean, and the Masters of Dudley House.  As a House we organize social gatherings just for the visiting students, and we plan events to which all of our undergraduates are invited.  The visiting students have also participated actively in the wide variety of programming orchestrated by the Dudley House Fellows for the Dudley graduate and undergraduate constituencies. (We encourage readers to visit our website http://dudley.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do to see the wealth of activities organized through Dudley House.)  Two of the visiting students are members of the Dudley House Student Committee, which is another way in which visiting students can participate in and have a voice in House life.

The visiting students are a vibrant, enthusiastic group of students, and we are very pleased that they are affiliated with Dudley House.  We are happy to be able to provide this engaged and talented group of students with a house community, and we are continually seeking additional mechanisms to help them feel more connected with their peers at Harvard.

James M. Hogle, Doreen M. Hogle, and Karen P. Flood

Cambridge, Mass.

Nov. 3, 2010

James M. Hogle and Doreen M. Hogle  are the  Masters of Dudley House. Karen P. Flood is the Allston Burr Resident Dean of Dudley House.