Harvard's Institute of Politics Ends Off-Campus Retreats After Hazing Allegations and Four Student Resignations

Harvard's Institute of Politics will replace the off-campus retreats of its Student Advisory Committee with on-campus, staff-led leadership development days in future semesters, The Harvard Crimson reported Friday, citing an internal announcement sent to student leaders last Tuesday.

The change comes nearly three weeks after the Crimson reported allegations of hazing at a February retreat and a series of resignations from the committee, the institute's undergraduate leadership body. The Institute of Politics is housed at the Harvard Kennedy School.

In an internal email obtained by the Crimson, IOP President Lorenzo Z. Ruiz '27 wrote that the new leadership days "will be opportunities for new and returning SAC members to set group norms, learn about best practices for handling membership concerns, and refresh skills in communication and conflict resolution." The email went to the 37-member committee as part of his weekly meeting recap.

Ruiz also announced expanded training with the Dean of Students Office, including "anti-hazing training" for committee leaders developed with IOP staff, and wrote that staff would be "reviewing communications practices internally," according to the Crimson. He invited all members to a community working group on norms, announced an anonymous feedback process run by staff ahead of the committee's leadership transition in November, and said weekly meetings would be restructured to allow more discussion. "I will be sending agendas in advance of meetings for members to help shape conversation," he wrote.

Asked what prompted the changes, Ruiz and IOP spokesperson Brigid O'Rourke declined to elaborate. "The IOP is focused on preparing our next generation of student leaders. We're proud of our collaborative, student-led process," Ruiz said in a statement.

The allegations center on a retreat held Feb. 6 to 8 at a rented beach house in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, according to the Crimson's Oct. 2 report, which was based on interviews with nearly 20 current and former committee members. Ten attendees told the newspaper that new members were each given a task to perform while reading lines from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, such as delivering a line in a military cadence, doing an impression or performing stand-up comedy. Shots of alcohol and water sat nearby, they said.

One new member told the Crimson he was asked to deliver his lines in an Ed Sheeran voice and felt uncomfortable, and he and five other attendees said another new member repeatedly refused an assigned impression before doing it. A third student said she felt embarrassed when asked to perform stand-up on the spot. Other attendees described the activity as lighthearted and optional, and one said the reading had been a retreat tradition for years. IOP Vice President William M. Smialek '27 called it an "optional, popcorn-style reading," according to the newspaper.

Accounts also diverge over what happened afterward. The student who raised concerns said Smialek told him the activity was not hazing and to bring future concerns to the executive team. Smialek wrote to the Crimson that he explained the relevant hazing definitions, provided information about reporting resources and "directly encouraged" the student to use them.

An internal letter obtained by the Crimson accused members of the executive team of bullying freshmen, demanding conformity and "blurring the line between licit requests and unethical expectations," and called for three of the four executive members to resign. Ruiz, Treasurer Jack W. H. Tueting '27 and Smialek denied bullying or unethical conduct. "There is no room for misconduct in the IOP, and certainly not for misconduct directed toward peers," they wrote. Ruiz said it was "deeply disappointing and saddening that any students felt unwelcome in our space" and that no reports of misconduct had been filed or brought directly to him.

The episode also raised questions about IOP staff. O'Rourke said in September that students had raised "broader concerns about student leadership and student culture" but that no hazing allegations had been brought to staff. Communications Director Dhara N. Patel '27 and former Director of Internal Affairs Cole W. Hahn '27 said they had raised concerns with staff about the treatment of freshman members, according to the Crimson. Hahn, the student who raised concerns about the retreat, and two other members later resigned for varying reasons.

The dispute came months into a campuswide crackdown on hazing at Harvard, which had suspended the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra after its own retreat before reversing course and removing the hazing finding, the Crimson reported. It also comes during Betsy Fischer Martin's first weeks as IOP director.