Via Harvard Crimson:

The masters of Harvard’s 12 undergraduate residential Houses have unanimously agreed to change their title, a term that some students criticize as associated with slavery and has come under scrutiny as debates about racism take hold of college campuses nationwide.

College and House administrators will soon meet to select a new name to replace the “House master” title, according to Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana, who informed the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the decision at its monthly meeting on Tuesday. Khurana, himself a master of Cabot House, said he will inform the College of the new title early next year.

Administrators and House masters acknowledged Tuesday that the move to abandon the term was in part prompted by recent protests against racism on campuses across the country; some Harvard students have called for changing it, and the title of the equivalent position at Yale has drawn particularly sharp criticism. Still, the conversation around the change is an old one, administrators said.

“The House Masters have unanimously expressed a desire to change their title,” Khurana told faculty members in a prepared statement at the meeting. “The recommendation to change the title has been a thoughtful one, rooted in a broad effort to ensure that the College’s rhetoric, expectations, and practices around our historically unique roles reflects and serves the 21st century needs of residential student life.”

FAS Dean Michael D. Smith has approved the change and is “extremely supportive” of it, he said. University President Drew G. Faust also agrees with the move, according to College spokesperson Rachael Dane.

Last week, Khurana said he personally feels uncomfortable with the title and that the College’s House masters, faculty members who oversee student residences, have been discussing changing it for some time. While acknowledging that the title “master” can take on various meanings—it is often used to mean “teacher”—he also argued that it is important to consider the “social meaning” of the phrase.

“As someone who is responsible for and co-leads one of the Houses…. I have not felt comfortable personally with the title,” Khurana said in an interview.