In Reversal, Harvard Offers International Students Winter Housing

Updated December 3, 2024, at 5:23 p.m.

The Harvard College Housing Office offered campus winter recess housing in emails to dozens of international students on Monday afternoon, reversing its initial decision to reject the housing applications and subsequent appeals.

In a Monday email, the Housing Office informed students that “after careful consideration, the College Housing Office decided to reconsider your recent application and approved your request for Winter Housing.”

“We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have been caused by the inconsistency in language we used around the criteria in making these decisions,” the Office wrote. The email did not specify why the students’ applications and appeals were previously rejected and why the decision had been reversed.

The decision to suddenly grant the students winter housing came two days after The Crimson published an article about how many international students on financial aid were scrambling to find lodging over break after their requests to remain on campus were denied. More than 280 people had also signed a petition calling on the College to “address Harvard’s winter housing crisis.”

Several international students said they were relieved and grateful that the College decided to reverse its decision.

“I was so happy,” said Camilo R. Vasconcelos ’25, who is from Brazil. “I still have a lot of faith in Harvard, so I had hope that in the end they would make the right decision.”

M. Faseeh Jawed ’27, who is from Pakistan, said he was “very positively surprised” by the email, adding that he had begun preparing alternative housing due to the initial rejection.

“I was already almost done with preparing for the arrangements, and I’m glad that it worked out even before I had to do any of that,” Jawed said.

Still, some students said the hectic and stressful process overshadowed Monday’s good news.

“Harvard has made me buy a plane ticket home for more than $1,600 because I didn’t initially have a place to stay here, which caused severe stress,” Sarra Guezguez ’27 wrote in a Monday statement. “Now we have access to the dorms, but that money will not be refunded.”

Nyasha B. Runhare ’27 said that the updated decision “obviously comes as a relief.”

“However, it’s been a very demeaning experience having to be vulnerable about my circumstances and financial situation so many times as a low income student,” Runhare added.

Ian Toyota ’27 wrote in a statement that being denied housing was a “heavy burden to bear,” particularly coupled with impending midterms and finals.

“Getting denied housing had a significant impact on both my mental and academic health,” he added.

Last week’s rejected appeals seemed to mark a change in the winter housing application process, as many students said it was their first time being asked for “other unique circumstances” beyond being an international student on financial aid — but the Housing Office did not provide clarification about the decision.

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment and referred The Crimson to the language from the Housing Office’s Monday reversal email.

“We understand that this led to confusion as students were planning for winter recess,” the email stated. “Please know this was never our intention, and we hope that this updated decision is helpful to you.”

Several international students who were initially rejected said they were contacted by College alumni, professors, grad students, and House tutors to arrange alternatives for the break, including some Cambridge-based alumni offering spare bedrooms in their homes.

“Once the story came out, there were a lot of emails from Harvard affiliated people — like professors or former tutors or people in the Boston area,” João Pedro Rocha Frazão ’26 said, referring to the Crimson article published on Saturday. Rocha Frazão added that the Woodbridge Society, the College’s main affinity group for international students, “was going to make a matching form to get host families to house some students.”

John A. Carey, a former resident tutor of Pforzheimer House, said he was “disappointed that the University wouldn’t offer more hospitality” and offered guest bedrooms in his home for international students in need.

Penelope “Penny” D. Lawrence ’60 reached out offering housing hoping to find “a group of alums” that could respond to housing needs. Lawrence said it was disappointing to her that “the University has become so unfriendly.”

Santiago Pardo Sánchez ’16, an Adams House residential tutor, also expressed frustration that the students had been denied housing in the first place.

“I’m very glad that compassion and sanity prevailed, because the stress that this episode put our students through was unnecessary,” Pardo Sánchez wrote.

The initial move to deny housing to international students on financial aid was met with a wave of backlash, and more than 300 people signed a petition last week calling on the Housing Office to reverse the decisions.

Some students pointed to the language in the Housing Office’s latest email — and the timing of the reversal.

“They said they are ‘accepting it after a lot of consideration,’ but it didn’t really say why they hadn’t considered that much in the first place,” Rocha said.

“I don’t know exactly whether this is them hinting that they’re going to change the language on the website,” Vasconcelos said. “Or that they shouldn’t have taken this decision, and that in the future, this misunderstanding won’t happen again.”

“I guess the lesson learned is that when we are frustrated and there’s a decision that doesn’t make sense, we should mobilize, and we should make a petition, and we should talk to the media — because apparently that’s all Harvard cares about,” Rocha said.

Vasconcelos said it’s “scary” to speak up regarding problems on campus, “especially if you’re low-income.”

“When you already feel like maybe you’re not supposed to be in this place, you think that you can’t demand certain things,” Vasconcelos said.

Nathalie A. Milbradt ’26, the Woodbridge Society’s co-president, said she was glad the College ultimately did “the right thing.”

“When the University doesn’t, we will represent students. We will find homes for them. We will find a host family,” Milbradt said.

Still, Milbradt said she recognizes that Woodbridge Society members “probably shouldn’t be the ones doing that.”

“I’m really glad that they changed their minds,” she added.

—Staff writer Rachel M. Fields can be reached at rachel.fields@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.

—Staff writer Meghna Mitra can be reached at meghna.mitra@thecrimson.com.