Harvard Dorm Crew

Harvard Dorm Crew, the common title for the Harvard University Student Porter Program, is the largest and oldest student-run fee-for-service organization in the world. As a division of Facilities Maintenance Operations at Harvard University, Dorm Crew employs students for custodial work in the undergraduate residences at Harvard College. In recent years, nearly one out of every five Harvard undergraduates has worked for Dorm Crew in some capacity.

Term-time: During the school year, Dorm Crew workers clean in-suite bathrooms and several academic buildings. Dorm Crew also assists the building managers of undergraduate houses and dormitories with general maintenance duties.

Clean-Ups: During the week preceding freshman move-in, Dorm Crew employs approximately 350 students to clean the undergraduate residences and prepare them for students (Fall Clean-Up). Immediately following exams in the spring, Dorm Crew hires approximately 400 students to work up to four weeks cleaning the dorms and preparing them first for alumni and then for summer school students (Spring Clean-Up).

Other Services: Dorm Crew also provides first-year students with toilet paper, supplies for dorm decorating, cleaning supplies, and household tools on loan. In addition, its office in the basement of Weld Hall serves as a lost-and-found for Harvard Yard.

Dorm Crew is headed by two student directors (Head Captains), who oversee the work of 10-15 House Captains and 10-20 Clean-Up Captains. During clean-ups, each House Captain and Clean-Up captain is in charge of 8-12 student employees. During the school year, each House Captain is responsible for recruiting, training, and supervising a student crew in one of the undergraduate residences.

In the decades immediately after the Second World War, Harvard reformed its admissions policies as it sought students from a more diverse applicant pool. As part of this effort, Dorm Crew was founded in 1951 to supplement the GI Bill by providing income for students from working-class families.

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