Changing the Face of the Houses

In the past weeks, the University has appointed two new sets of House Masters—Professor of Astronomy Robert P. Kirshner ’70 and Jayne Loader of Quincy House and Professor of Government Roger B. Porter and Ann Porter of Dunster House. We welcome their addition to the Harvard House community. However, the selection of two non-minority House masters, following upon two similar selections last year, forces us to confront the persistent lack of diversity among House Masters. This issue has become especially acute with the departure of Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology Karel F. Liem and Hetty Liem as Masters of Dunster House, leaving the College without any Masters of color. While we are certain that the new Masters will serve their respected Houses well, and while we believe the College has made a good-faith effort to consider diversity in the selection of Masters, we nonetheless feel it necessary that the College confront the underlying issues that have thus far rendered the selection of minority Masters so infrequent.

Masters serve as advisors and role models to students and are integral to the formation of an open house community. The importance of this role demands that the composition of House Masters reflect the increasing diversity of the student body. While we do not doubt that capability and enthusiasm of current Masters, we do believe a more heterogeneous pool of Masters would better symbolize the College’s commitment to diversity and make House communities more welcoming for all students.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 is aware of the lack of diversity among House Masters, and we believe he has made an honest effort to recruit minority faculty members to fill the position. The problem with finding minority House Masters does not lie in the search process, but rather in the paucity of minority faculty in general. Minority faculty members are few and far between, and as Lewis notes, they are notoriously busy, with many other demands on their time in addition to classroom and research responsibilities. As a result, the College has had difficulty finding minority faculty with the skills and the desire to take on the added responsibility of overseeing a House community.

Ameliorating this problem should be one of the first items on President-elect Lawrence H. Summers’ agenda. Summers has already announced an interest in greatly increasing the size of the Faculty during his term. During this process, Summers should make it a priority for the University to hire qualified minority Faculty members. Not only will a more diverse Faculty ensure that differing viewpoints are represented in the Faculty and the community at large, it will also make it much easier to find qualified minority House Masters.

For far too long many students have been unable to see their reflection in the individuals chosen to lead Harvard’s House communities. The University should now take tangible steps towards a more representative pool of House Masters.