Dean Pfister has come to Harvard with a wealth of different experiences, and a relationship that the University that has placed him in various capacities on campus. Dean Pfister arrived at Harvard in 1974 as an Assistant Professor from the University of Puerto Rico, and was tenured in 1979. A Kirkland House Master for 18 years, Pfister jokes that he has probably eaten the most dining hall meals out of anyone at the College. Teaching has always been one of Dean Pfister’s passions; he has taught all through his time at Harvard, and currently teaches one course in the Organism and Evolutionary Biology. In interview with the Harvard Political Review, Dean Pfister touched on important issues that affect our campus, our community, and our classes.
On the Position of Dean of the College:
In his beautiful, old office in University Hall, it is easy to forget that Dean Pfister is so new to his position. The windows that look onto the Yard allow a serene, but busy Harvard to come into focus. Dean Pfister has lived with undergraduates and understood Harvard culture through their eyes, an experience that has both prepared him and arguably, underprepared him for the office of Dean of the College; his Harvard IQ, from extracurricular to undergraduate teaching to house life is high, and yet, the hectic schedule of the Dean of the College seems to be slightly more removed from that day-to-day involvement in Harvard College. He describes the deeper perspective he gets looking out from University Hall:
“As House Master, I always hoped to know all of the students in the house. As Dean of the College, I go out the door here and I think, ‘Is that somebody that I know? Is that a student? Is that somebody I’ve run in to?’ It’s a much bigger number of students and today, actually, when I left I was walking along, thinking about something, and suddenly (and you can’t tell with just a Harvard sweatshirt what the connection is), and somebody stops me and says: ‘I met you!’ And I remembered that I had during the first week of their freshman year, and it’s a funny kind of thing, but that’s how you can sometimes feel walking through the Science Center Plaza—it’s a great, wonderful, active space.”
On One Harvard:
Dean Pfister is right: how often do we as Harvard students know who we are walking past as we go to class? A tour group? A group of pre-frosh students? Cambridge families? This pondering could perhaps be the seed from which the One Harvard Campaign has sprung. As a House Master, Pfister knows undergraduates can have “experiences that go across the schools that take place in various ways: seminars, informal ways in which you can get to know what’s going in the schools, cross-registering, academic work.” To the College, “‘One Harvard’ means that there are many doors that can be opened to the wider Harvard Community.” Dean Pfister admits, however, that we didn’t always used to think this way. Even in his own field, Biology, there always used to a Harvard Medical School connection—but he argues that we must be encouraged to think in a unifying way, thus understanding that different schools can collaborate and improve upon the same thing. One thing that we must not neglect, however, is the sense of the smaller body within the whole; according to Dean Pfister, events with just freshman or just seniors can be powerful examples of campus and class unity.
On Student Initiatives:
According to many commentators, this sense of campus and class unity took something of a beating in the last academic year. The relentlessly reported Harvard cheating scandal, student mental health rallies, revelations about a lack of e-mail security with Dean Hammonds, an effective dismissal of sexual health reform, race and gender debates at Yardfest agglomerated to leave many students and administrators disillusioned. Dean Pfister’s approach to easing the tension of the past academic year has been to create trust—not only in his own office, but also among students, faculty and administrators. “We don’t learn much by forgetting what happened,” he says, “My personal goal in thinking about this is that people have to—I have to—develop the office so that people trust me and trust the office.” These issues are still on his radar, and hopefully will be addressed in the forthcoming year: “The theme of health and safety is important, and that is still at the center of the change [we are looking at].”
One example of how Dean Pfister has been applying this approach is evident in his initiatives and discussions regarding academic integrity. A professor currently teaching undergraduates in his own right, Dean Pfister sat on a panel discussing student integrity earlier this year. For him, integrity is a word with a truly holistic meaning, applying to how we study, how we appreciate each other, how we have fun—essentially, “The broader umbrella of integrity.” Do we need a culture change at Harvard then? “To live together in these tight quarters takes an understanding of what it means to be part of a community: honesty, integrity and respect all fit in to how a community can function.” This crucial element of being at Harvard has been somewhat elusive in recent years. The freshman pledge introduced for the class of 2015 was met with ferocious backlash—where does this change we seek come from? “It can’t be top-down. As a former House Master, I could plan any events, but if I plan them, we may not have students there at all! But if we have students planning and participating, then we have the chance of being successful.”
Dean Pfister’s message is something of a call to students; student-driven change, whether it’s to discuss the alcohol policy or sexual assault is what will drive our cultural “tune-up.” We at the College should feel somewhat more comfortable that the administration is willing to work with us in this regard.
During our interview it was clear that though his position is that of interim dean, Dean Pfister does not view his office as an instrument to pass time. Instead, he is working hard to create a trusting culture, a supportive office in University Hall, and “good spirits and good experiences moving forward.” Dean Pfister’s time at Harvard should be looked upon as a stepping stone to a better, more unified Harvard University
Image credit: Harvard College