Harvard University has hired Kareem Khubchandani, a drag performer and Tufts University associate professor, as a visiting professor for the 2024–2025 academic year, as reported by the New York Post.

The Ivy League school announced the appointment in July, confirming that Khubchandani will teach courses in the Studies of Gender and Sexuality program.

Khubchandani, who also goes by the drag stage name “LaWhore Vagistan,” has incorporated the persona into teaching for more than a decade.

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Harvard said the appointment was supported by the Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus, which played a role in bringing Khubchandani to the program.

The visiting professor is scheduled to teach two courses during the two-semester appointment. In the fall, Khubchandani will lead “Queer Ethnography.”

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In the spring semester, the course “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire” will be offered, focusing on the themes and cultural impact of the television program RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In a 2015 interview published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Khubchandani described the origins of the drag name. “My name is LaWhore Vagistan, my preferred pronouns are ‘she’ or ‘aunty.’ I chose ‘LaWhore’ because my family traces its origins to Pakistan: Lahore is an important city in Pakistan, and well, I’m a bit of a w*ore,” Khubchandani said. “And Vagistan because I see the subcontinent as one, big, beautiful Vag…istan.”

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Beyond classroom instruction, Khubchandani has performed drag for years and even released a music video titled Sari under the persona of LaWhore Vagistan. Academic publications have also featured the character as part of Khubchandani’s work.

Khubchandani is an associate professor of theater, dance, and performance studies at Tufts University and has authored several books, including Decolonizer Drag and Ishstyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife.

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A new book titled Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties is set for release this fall.

The announcement of the Harvard appointment came shortly after President Donald Trump confirmed the release of $2.4 billion in previously frozen federal grants to the university. The funding was tied to an agreement requiring Harvard to expand into new trade schools.

“This would be a giant trade school, or a series of trade schools. It would be run by Harvard,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier this week.

Harvard has not publicly responded to questions about the appointment or its timing in relation to the newly restored federal funding.

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