Dean of Students Dunne Says He Is Uninvolved in HUA’s Push To Put Students on the Ad Board

Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne has not been involved with the Harvard Undergraduate Association’s attempts to secure student representation on the College’s Administrative Board — though he is broadly in support of student representation at the College, he said in a Tuesday interview with The Crimson.

To take a stance on the matter, Dunne said, he would need to better understand the HUA’s proposal and learn whether the College had tried to include students on the Ad Board in the past. He also expressed interest in exploring similar disciplinary boards and structures at “Ivy+ schools” like Dartmouth and Brown to guide decision-making.

When asked why students do not currently sit on the College Ad Board, which adjudicates undergraduate rule violations through its disciplinary committee, Dunne said that he did not know.

The Harvard College Honor Council, which reviews possible violations of student academic integrity policies, includes both student and faculty members.

Still, Dunne said he is generally supportive of student involvement in administrative projects and “decision-making” at the College and in the Dean of Students Office.

“Anytime you have those opportunities to partner with students, I think it is enormously helpful,” he said. “They’re able to have a perspective and viewpoint that is hard for people in DSO to fully access as non-students.”

The HUA announced their effort to secure Ad Board student representation at a Sunday meeting. The advocacy comes amid an ongoing Faculty of Arts and Sciences review of the College’s disciplinary proceedings, launched after last spring’s sanctions on Harvard Yard encampment student protesters sparked widespread frustration.

Dunne said he has not been in conversation with the HUA presidents or Ad Board members about the issue of student representation. He said he does not have “a position” on the HUA’s proposal, which he said he only learned of after reading The Crimson’s Monday article.

The HUA is funded by the DSO, communicating plans and initiatives with the Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Leadership Andy Donahue, a DSO administrator who works under Dunne.

According to Matthew R. Tobin ’27, HUA Academic Team officer and Crimson Editorial editor, the HUA Academic Team had met with Dean of Student Services Michael Burke — who oversees the Ad Board. Tobin also has a meeting scheduled with the secretary of the Ad Board, he wrote in a Tuesday statement to The Crimson.

HUA Co-President Jonathan Haileselassie ’26 wrote in a statement that the group “started having conversations about student representation on the Ad Board over the summer after hearing directly from students who had engaged with the disciplinary board.”

“We focused on discussions with the Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct (OAISC), where the Ad Board is housed, and Dean Khurana,” he added. “We have already met with OAISC and will be discussing this further with Dean Khurana in an upcoming meeting.”

The DSO and the University have made several attempts to include student voices and leadership in previous initiatives.

As part of the 2023-2024 club recognition review process, conducted during a year-long club freeze, the DSO recruited an advisory committee of a dozen undergraduate students. But the committee ultimately fell apart due to “no interest in student participation,” Donahue said in a September interview.

Dunne said he has facilitated connections with undergraduates through mixers at his home, inviting the Peer Advising Fellows and the Crimson Key Society this semester.

“As a broad principle, something I would advocate for personally and have in my work benefited from, is opportunities to be in conversation with student representatives,” Dunne said on Tuesday.

Recent DSO projects — including the Mattering Movement, which officially launched on Feb. 10 and seeks to promote a sense of campus belonging — will also feature student leadership. Over Wintersession, Dunne went on a Vermont retreat with students to learn more about campus culture and brainstorm initiatives to nurture a sense of “mattering.” Later this week, the group will split into one faculty and five student task forces as they carry out new ideas, Dunne said.

—Staff writer Hiral M. Chavre can be reached at hiral.chavre@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @h_chavre.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.