Overview

• Harvard’s Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality named Khubchandani the 2025–26 F. O. Matthiessen Visiting Associate Professor, a move first announced in July.
• University materials list two courses: Queer Ethnography in the fall and RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire in the spring, with requirements that include attending drag shows and performance-based exercises.
• Khubchandani, an associate professor at Tufts, integrates his drag persona LaWhore Vagistan into teaching, reflecting a decade of scholarship and performance on drag and queer nightlife.
• Recent coverage on Oct. 1–2 reported polarized reactions, with social-media backlash and right-leaning outlets criticizing the appointment as LGBTQ+ and academic voices emphasized his credentials.
• The spring course focuses on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and several outlets linked the controversy to ongoing federal funding discussions involving Harvard and the Trump administration, with no indication the appointment has been changed.