After months of faculty pushback, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has quietly loosened its guidance on what can sit in office and lab windows, clarifying that items inside private workspaces can stay put even if they are visible from the street. The move from FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra addresses an ongoing fight over how the University’s campus use rules were being interpreted. Faculty who had pressed for change say the tweak wipes away a nagging uncertainty for offices, dorms, and other private work areas.
The March 4 revision, according to The Harvard Crimson, now “explicitly states that campus use rules cannot be used to prohibit items placed inside work areas regardless of whether any such item may be visible from outside of the space in which it appears.” The update also drops the word “customary” from the description of where permitted signage may be placed, language faculty had specifically urged administrators to strike. The Crimson reports that the change followed a Feb. 16 memorandum from 18 faculty members asking Hoekstra to revise the guidance and bring the issue to the faculty meeting agenda.
Hoekstra Announces Advisory Committee
At the March 3 faculty meeting, Hoekstra said she would set up an advisory committee on Campus Use and Operations to sort out implementation questions and recommend local interpretations, according to Faculty of Arts & Sciences meeting notes. The FAS post says details on membership will come once the committee is formed and casts the group as a local forum to translate universitywide policy into day to day practice in departments and labs.
Where The Campus Rules Came From
Universitywide Campus Use Rules were introduced in August 2024 after large demonstrations in the Yard. They centralized restrictions on structures, chalking, and signage while leaving individual schools room to set local guidance. The executive vice president’s rules generally bar people from affixing signs to University property without prior approval or using anything other than designated locations, as outlined by Harvard’s Campus Use Rules.
The latest flare-up started last August when administrators ordered a “BLACK LIVES MATTER” display removed from lab windows in the Northwest Science Building, a decision that helped spark faculty resistance and unionwide poster campaigns. The Harvard Crimson reported that administrators pointed to a ban on “self-mounted displays” when they planned the removal.
For now, the March 4 change lands as a narrow, nuts-and-bolts fix: it spells out that private workspaces are not to be treated as off-limits display zones just because their interiors can be seen from outside. Faculty leaders say the clarification should curb selective enforcement and open the door to more visible expression inside offices and labs, while the new FAS committee will be closely watched as it turns broad University rules into everyday practice.
