diff --git a/include/grpc/census.h b/include/grpc/census.h
index 338d02ba1cfdde2052b427eccefdc3ace7b7ca51..a02724ed7516c429cb8769d3352926f1ee09c44a 100644
--- a/include/grpc/census.h
+++ b/include/grpc/census.h
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
 #define CENSUS_CENSUS_H
 
 #include <grpc/grpc.h>
-#include <grpc/support/slice_buffer.h>
 
 /* Identify census functionality that can be enabled via census_initialize(). */
 enum census_functions {
@@ -59,7 +58,9 @@ void census_shutdown();
 /* Internally, Census relies on a context, which should be propagated across
  * RPC's. From the RPC subsystems viewpoint, this is an opaque data structure.
  * A context must be used as the first argument to all other census
- * functions. The context can be serialized for passing across the wire. */
+ * functions. Conceptually, contexts should be thought of as specific to
+ * single RPC/thread. The context can be serialized for passing across the
+ * wire. */
 typedef struct census_context census_context;
 
 /* This function is called by the RPC subsystem whenever it needs to get a
diff --git a/src/core/surface/server.c b/src/core/surface/server.c
index b8ac410687289a56346b8a332836c0f8a7e94678..735b8ac4b0e476f5e699a66db2e738967161d3e3 100644
--- a/src/core/surface/server.c
+++ b/src/core/surface/server.c
@@ -620,7 +620,9 @@ grpc_server *grpc_server_create_from_filters(grpc_channel_filter **filters,
                                              size_t filter_count,
                                              const grpc_channel_args *args) {
   size_t i;
-  int census_enabled = grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(args);
+  /* TODO(census): restore this once we finalize census filter etc.
+     int census_enabled = grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(args); */
+  int census_enabled = 0;
 
   grpc_server *server = gpr_malloc(sizeof(grpc_server));
 
@@ -646,7 +648,7 @@ grpc_server *grpc_server_create_from_filters(grpc_channel_filter **filters,
   server->channel_filters =
       gpr_malloc(server->channel_filter_count * sizeof(grpc_channel_filter *));
   server->channel_filters[0] = &server_surface_filter;
-  /* TODO(census)
+  /* TODO(census): restore this once we rework census filter
   if (census_enabled) {
     server->channel_filters[1] = &grpc_server_census_filter;
     } */