First Year Urban Program Director Laid Off Amid FAS Restructuring

Varsha Ghosh, the Phillips Brooks House director of student engagement and leadership and longtime staff adviser to the First-Year Urban Program, will depart this week after 13 years leading FUP, according to a Thursday email to FUP leaders.

Ghosh wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Crimson, that her position was eliminated amid the broader restructuring of Phillips Brooks House, part of a sweeping administrative overhaul of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She wrote that she would “officially be retiring from the College” and would not remain with FUP this year, though she said she planned to return Monday afternoon to kick off leader training and formally say goodbye.

In the email, she attributed the restructuring to “changes in the landscape of higher education.”

The First Year Urban Program is one of the College’s six pre-orientation programs for incoming freshmen. Based out of the Phillips Brooks House and serving more than 100 incoming freshmen each year, the program centers on civic engagement, connecting students with campus civic organizations and community partners and sending participants to public service sites across the Boston area.

Ghosh was one of 11 Phillips Brooks House staffers whose positions were affected in a wave of job changes in late July. Phillips Brooks House was the hardest-hit College unit by share of positions, with nearly half of its 23 roles either laid off or offered new positions.

Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement and Public Service Travis A. Lovett confirmed in a statement that he would serve as the primary FUP staff advisor for the upcoming year as the program transitions. Beginning in 2027, Lovett wrote, FUP will be advised by the team as a group, with one staffer responsible for training and another responsible for student engagement and recruitment.

The exact staffers who will take on the roles have not yet been settled due to ongoing department restructuring, according to Lovett.

Lauren Q. Crispi, who currently manages student development at the Phillips Brooks House and the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship, will formally transition into a role working on student training in late September.

Majula Swareh, a doctoral student who has worked with the team this summer, will also continue supporting FUP logistics, Lovett confirmed.

“My colleague, Varsha Ghosh, has been great in supporting our students and she has prepared our student leaders and me well for carrying on through the broader staff transition,” Lovett wrote.

Ghosh did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In the email, she asked FUP leaders to “refrain from commenting to news sources such as the Crimson or other,” writing that doing so was “important for ensuring FUP’s success throughout this transition.”

Ghosh’s departure is among the first signs of the restructuring’s direct impact on the Class of 2030 and poses another test of College Dean David J. Deming’s April pledge to preserve student-facing programming over “back office” functions as the FAS made cuts.

An FAS spokesperson declined to comment on the cuts at Phillips Brooks House when The Crimson first reported them in July. But Deming was more pointed in private. Less than five minutes into a staff town hall earlier this month, he pressed employees not to believe everything they read in The Crimson and insisted, without elaborating, that the cuts would not be “impactful,” according to a College staff member in attendance.

Asked for comment for this story, the FAS spokesperson did not respond.

A College spokesperson wrote that “all communications and programming for incoming freshmen has been delivered as planned,” and confirmed that all pre-orientation programs, the summer SPARK program, and the annual Global Day of Service will continue.

“FUP is fully operational and progressing as planned,” the spokesperson wrote. “The students who are participating will be deeply engaged throughout the program.”

The cuts at the Phillis Brooks House marks a reversal from then-College Dean Rakesh Khurana’s 2019 effort to expand the group’s role within the College and integrate public service into academics.

FUP underwent a separate overhaul last year after Ghosh and Lovett were asked to redesign the program following recommendations from Harvard’s task forces on campus bias and amid the University’s conflict with the Trump administration. The changes eliminated panels on prison abolition and housing reform and rewrote the program’s mission statement, which had pledged a shared commitment to public service.

FUP is not the only student-facing part of the College affected by the FAS restructuring. In late July, Harvard announced that it would shutter the Dudley Community, a more than 90-year-old advising and social community for undergraduates outside the House system, alongside a wave of staffing cuts and administrative changes.

Ghosh highlighted the uncertainty around the restructuring in her email, writing that “there is a lot that we do not know right now.” Alongside her work with FUP, Ghosh also advised more than 40 public service programs on program development, finance, and the like.

“We understand this will be a difficult transition because I’ve worked with many of you for most of your college experience,” Ghosh wrote.

Ghosh and Lovett both emphasized that FUP would continue as planned despite her departure.

“FUP, historically, has been led by the strong, skilled and committed student leaders, dedicated to serving communities and creating positive social change. This continues to be true,” Ghosh wrote.

“FUP will be carrying on with a series of workshops, social activities, and a dozen community work sites that will all be ready for students when they arrive on campus on August 21st,” Lovett wrote.

Ghosh announced her departure to FUP student leaders at a Thursday meeting. She wrote that she planned to formally say goodbye to students on Monday.

“It has been my absolute pleasure to have advised and led FUP for the last thirteen years. Professionally and personally, it has been a transformational experience. I’m going to miss it tremendously,” she wrote.

— Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Alma T. Barak can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at almabk.54. Follow her on X @almabk_.

—Staff writer Theresa F. Bartelme can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at theresabartelme.15. Follow her on X @theresabartelme.