Viggiani to Leave University

Adams House Senior Tutor Janet A. Viggiani will leave Harvard shortly after the start of next semester, according to a letter distributed to House residents yesterday.

Viggiani--an assistant dean of the College who has worked at Harvard for ten years, the last three as senior tutor--said she plans to spend several months travelling throughout the United States before enrolling in law school next fall.

"Although I am delighted at the prospect of new vistas [literally and figuratively], I will also miss each of you very much," Viggiani wrote. "Over the last few years you have entertained me and impressed me, driven me crazy and kept me young. Always, you have touched my heart."

For the last two years, Viggiani, who is assistant dean for coeducation, served as chair of the Date Rape Task Force.

The Administrative Board commissioned the Task Force the year before last to review Harvard's policy on acquaintance rape.

Viggiani told The Crimson in an interview yesterday that she decided to leave Harvard last semester. She said the decision was unrelated to the Administrative Board's recent decision not to accept the Task Force's suggested definition of date rape.

"It's never been an issue for me," Viggiani said. "That definition was written by a group of 20 people and as chair of the Task Force I always felt it was important to support it and explain it and encourage people to think through the issues...I was not so attached to the precise wording of it."

Viggiani said that she looked forward to the opportunity to speak her mind more as an attorney, something she said was not commensurate with her role as a College administrator.

"I feel a certain sense of relief that I'm going into a profession where having a big mouth is an asset and where being appropriate is not something that I'm always having to keep in mind," she said.

"I think I've always tried very hard to say what I believe because I think that's important. But I think at any large institution there are constraints on the activities of any one person," she added.

"There can be a certain sense of frustration and feeling of being stifled within that," Viggiani added. "I have reached a point in my own professional career where there are freedoms that I want that are more available to me in another professional direction."

In addition, Viggiani said she is concerned that Harvard administrators are not willing enough to voice their beliefs and to accept necessary changes in their policies.

"[At institutions of higher education,] we are not always as willing as we should be to take clear stands on issues that affect students," she said. "I think it's the role of the University to stand for certain kinds of ethical and moral positions, partly as a kind of education and partly because it's just right to do that and I sometimes feel like we're not willing to go to those lengths."

Viggiani said her last day in office at Adams House will be February 12, though she will live in the House's guest suite for several weeks afterwards.

Adams House Assistant Senior Tutor Rebecca L. Spang '83-'84 will become acting senior tutor next semester.