Save MS&PC: MIT’s Spouses & Partners program slated for unexpected termination
Over 50 years later, Spouses & Partners Connect and Language Conversation Exchange is forced to shutter.
For more than five decades, MIT Spouses & Partners Connect (MS&PC) has quietly but powerfully supported the spouses, partners, and families of MIT students, faculty, staff, and visiting scholars. It has helped build community and ease transitions, while offering a sense of belonging to those navigating not just a new campus, but often a new culture and a new life.
MIT Health has reportedly determined that on May 23rd, this long-standing program — along with the equally valued Language Conversation Exchange (LCE) — will be discontinued due to funding changes. The two staff members who have built and sustained these programs, including an individual with more than 25 years of service, will also see their contracts end with minimal notice.
While the current unusual and highly problematic budget challenges at MIT are well-documented, it’s important to take a moment to reflect on what is at stake and what could still be preserved.
For international families arriving in Cambridge, MS&PC is often the first place where they find a warm welcome.
As one participant, Florina Vogel, shared, she was “isolated and homesick” when she first moved to Boston with her husband and son during a freezing winter. “But when I attended an MS&PC event, I found a community that understood me.” As the spouse of a postdoc, her story is not unique — it reflects the broader experience of many spouses and partners who interrupt careers, support their families, and face significant personal upheaval for their loved ones to be part of the MIT community.
Another voice, Sudhi Oberoi, described MS&PC as “a lifeline” during her five years at MIT. The program, she said, offered not only practical help but emotional grounding — for her and her spouse, who is now a faculty member at Georgia Tech. “That is the quiet, often invisible, power of this program,” she noted.
Another member, Benjamin Okun, notes “MIT’s lifeblood flows partly from its ability to attract the best and brightest academics from around the world.” He emphasizes it would be “impossible” for most researchers with so much expertise to be able to make the move to Cambridge “without the support and participation of their families.” Even though he’s an American citizen, he experienced depression and questioned his decision to accompany his spouse. MS&PC connected him to an “absolutely life-changing source of connection and support.” A decade later, his friendships and the connections he’s made from this program endure.
These stories highlight the real human value of MS&PC. This isn't about events or programming alone — it’s about connection, dignity, and inclusion. For many, the existence of MS&PC felt like a message from MIT: Your efforts support and make possible your partner's contributions to MIT. In other words, you belong here, too.
In fact, in 2017, MS&PC was even highlighted in this very newspaper by Dr. Cecilia Stuopis (now Chief Health Officer at MIT Health) as an answer to a prayer published under the title “The Invisible Families of MIT” by then-graduate student spouse, Grace Chua. Dr. Stuopis noted then: “Being a spouse or partner at MIT can be hard...but you are not invisible. We see you, and we are ready to help.”
MIT has worked hard over the years to be known for building community. We know MIT cares about the image of community, based on the “Community Social” last week, where thousands of dollars were spent for even a fleeting sense of community. Meanwhile, the tangibility of community through MS&PC does not end, even after families leave MIT. If MIT is focused on financial sustainability, it may be worth considering how supporting alumni, former researchers, and their families can positively influence future contributions — whether through donations, mentorship, or other forms of engagement.
Community is not just one of MIT’s core values — it is the foundation on which this institution claims to stand.
Eliminating this program sends a clear message that these values are not guiding decisions at the highest levels. Instead, it reinforces the perception that financial concerns are prioritized over human impact.
It is disheartening to witness large sums spent regularly on catering and events, while a modest yet powerful program like this is cut. Ironically, MIT Spouses and Partners Connect helped many of our current faculty succeed by supporting not just students and postdocs, but their spouses and significant others. In doing so, it strengthened the very academic community that MIT benefits from today.
The decision to wind down the program is understandably difficult. However, as a community, there is an opportunity to explore new ways forward. Can elements of the program be restructured, relocated, or sustained through other channels? Can the deep institutional knowledge and compassion of long-serving staff be retained in some form? These are questions worth asking — and answering together. However, finding good, sustainable answers to these questions will take more than the ten days that the program has currently been given until its closure.
There must be alternative solutions available. We believe there are three options:
Extend the deadline of the shutdown (allowing time to wind down the program properly and/or find a new home for its functions)
Maintain the program while reducing the budget
Move the program under a different MIT umbrella, rather than MIT Health
A group of MIT spouses, students, and employees is therefore working to explore whether the decision to close can be postponed for several months, to allow time to explore models that ensure the continuation of MS&PC's essential mission, while adjusting for MIT’s current circumstances. Those interested in learning more or contributing to this effort can visit https://bit.ly/save-mspc.
At its heart, MS&PC represents what makes MIT’s community strong — not just excellence in research and innovation, but care for the people behind the scenes who make that excellence possible. As MIT looks to the future, let’s ensure that future includes space for the families who walk this journey too.
George Verghese, professor of EECS, has known, valued, and contributed to the MS&PC and LCE programs ever since he joined the faculty in 1979. He has witnessed close up its support for the wife and family of his first doctoral student, from Spain.
Jay Liew is the spouse of a faculty member at EAPS.
Benjamin Okun is the spouse of MIT Sloan School Research Scientist.