Top UC Leaders Support House Master Name Change

Both the outgoing and incoming presidents of the Undergraduate Council say they support the College’s recent decision to rename the House master position, a title that some students had criticized as associated with slavery.

Earlier this week, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana—who said the term makes him personally uncomfortable—said the leaders of the College’s 12 residential Houses had agreed unanimously to change their title. Acknowledging that the term means many things—it is often used to mean “teacher”—Khurana said he considered the “social meaning” of the phrase. Changing it looks to “ensure that the College’s rhetoric, expectations, and practices around our historically unique roles reflects and serves the 21st century needs of residential student life,” he argued.

UC President Ava Nasrollahzadeh '16 and Vice President Dhruv P. Goyal '16. By George J Lok

Some student leaders cited similar reasoning for supporting the change on Thursday.

“Harvard has traditions, but if we need to revisit those practices in order to align with our values today, then a name change is definitely warranted,” Ava Nasrollahzadeh ’16, the UC’s current president, wrote in an email.

Shaiba Rather ’17, who will assume the UC presidency this weekend, similarly said she and incoming UC vice president Daniel V. Banks ’17 are “excited to see the administration respond to student voices and take steps towards a healthier campus climate.”

“We need rhetoric and practices that not only reflect the mission of the college but also serve the needs of the current diversity of the student body,” Rather wrote in an email.

Although the title has been the subject of debate among administrators for some time, the change came at least in part as a response to ongoing protests against racism raging on college campuses nationwide. Although the debate surrounding the term has attracted more attention at Yale—where the word “master” is also used in their residential housing systems—some Harvard students have also weighed in.

Two weeks ago, a group of Latino students met with University President Drew G. Faust on behalf of some cultural groups and issued a series of demands calling to make Harvard’s campus a better environment for students of color. One request was to change the “House master” title.

Although the incoming and outgoing UC leadership mostly offered praise in response to the decision, some other students had more lukewarm reactions.

Victor C. Agbafe ’19, a UC representative for the freshmen Elm Yard, said he feels “indifferent” about the change. Harvard administrators should engage in dialogue about problems facing students of color instead of simply changing the wording of their titles, he argued.

William A. Greenlaw ’17, a UC representative from Pforzheimer House who unsuccessfully ran for president this year, described himself as happy to see the change, although he called it “nominal.”

“While I am glad that the Administration has taken interest in issues that face communities of color, I hope that this nominal change doesn’t distract them from focusing on more substantive issues that face the community, like diversity in faculty, diversity in mental health services, and more robustly trained race relations tutors,” he wrote in an email.

Greenlaw and his running mate, William F. Morris IV ’17, ran on a platform largely focused on expanding student mental health services, including advocating for more diversity in Harvard University Health Services counseling and mental health staff.

“Let’s not let the discourse end with the name change,” Greenlaw added.

The Crimson’s editorial board, meanwhile, published a strongly worded editorial on Monday that condemned the name change decision as “superficial,” arguing that it detracts attention from more substantial race relations issues.

“Words are words. They have many meanings that change over time,” the board wrote. “Rather than legitimizing these games of word association, Harvard and its administrators ought to spend time addressing actual issues of inclusivity on campus.”

Khurana has said he will update students with a replacement title for the House master position early next year.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalin.cunningham@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.