Advising Programs, Events Face Cuts

Funding for undergraduate advising will face substantial reductions next fall.

The concentration fair for freshmen and sophomores has been eliminated, and the “Advising Fortnight” programming will be serially reduced, downsizing from 72 events to 35, according to a document obtained by The Crimson on advising budget cuts.

In addition, the head of undergraduate advising programming, Associate Dean Monique Rinere, will leave this summer for a new post at Columbia, and her post will likely be left vacant, according to two students on the student advisory committee.

The advising office faces the “loss of one assistant dean,” whose responsibilities would have included overseeing new advising programs that would cater to athletes and international students, according to the document.

There is no indication from the document that a layoff will result from the elimination of the position.

According to Omar M. Abdelsamad ’09, who is a student on the advising committee, most of the programming cuts were not essential.

“All the advising events you go to have a lot of food, as a rule,” he said. “A lot of that will be gone.”

There will also be reductions in lunch funding for freshman academic advisers, likely leading to reductions in “number of lunches people have with their advisees,” the document suggests.

A year-old program for students to discuss research opportunities with faculty over lunch will also be slashed.

The peer advising fellows program will go virtually untouched, and there is no indication that the $1000 stipend for advisors will be cut.

Funds allocated for study breaks—$20 per semester for every advisee—also are not mentioned.

Last year, funding for PAF programming was cut by a third.

Many PAFs have said that though their stipend is not being reduced, they would do the same work for free because the experience is so rewarding.

“I take it more as a service than an obligation,” said Elizabeth C. Spira ’11, referring to her responsibilities as a PAF. “I would be wiling to take less money and still do the position.”

Despite the grim projections on paper, some students on the committee did not believe that the cuts would be so drastic in reality.

Abdelsamad said that he does not believe the concentration fair would be completely eliminated.

“That was a harsh assessment,” he said.

He said that the fair will likely combine with another event, or take a more subdued form.

According to Abdelsamad, the cuts were made with the goal of trying to impact advising as little as possible.

“They’re removing things like food at events,” he said. “The core advising is still there.”

Eric Newcomer contributed to the reporting for this article.

—Staff writer Laura G. Mirviss can be reached at lmirviss@fas.harvard.edu.