“This week, Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana sent an email to students informing them that the school would be scrapping one of its most treasured traditions: The heads of its 12 undergraduate residences would no longer be called house ‘masters.’ The decision, the result of an unanimous vote by the masters themselves, was partially in response to the racially fueled unrest that’s transpired on college campuses, including Harvard, in recent weeks. According to The Harvard Crimson, although the term as it’s used in the Ivy League has nothing to do with slavery, some students have nonetheless criticized the word “master” as reminiscent of it, and Khurana and other officials say the change had been under consideration for some time.” …
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/protests-ivy-league-traditions/418896/