Ellwood Meets with Students, Discusses Leadership Courses Uproar

Harvard Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood addressed student concerns Tuesday night about the possible cancellation of a popular adaptive leadership course, but did not commit to maintaining practical leadership training in the Kennedy School’s curriculum.

Speaking to a crowd of students at a Kennedy School Student Government meeting, Ellwood did not comply with demands from the KSSG that he and other Kennedy School administrators pledge their commitment to two courses—Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences 201: “Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change” and MLD 202: “Exercising Leadership: A Cross-Cultural & International Perspective.” Students said they fear that a Kennedy School faculty committee’s recent decision not to promote one of two adaptive leadership lecturers, Dean Williams, to the post of senior lecturer may spell the end of MLD 202.

Ellwood acknowledged this potential outcome, saying “There is a possibility that [MLD] 202 will not be taught.”

Ellwood attended the meeting in response to an email sent by the KSSG to the Kennedy School community last Friday laying out demands and requesting his presence on Tuesday.

Attendees cited other pieces of evidence to support their perception of a decline of institutional support for adaptive leadership at the Kennedy School. In the past, one adaptive leadership module—a half-semester introductory course—was mandatory for Kennedy School students, said Stephen J. Frost, a Kennedy School alumnnus and current visiting fellow. This requirement has since been dropped.

When asked about this change, Ellwood said, “I don’t remember what the core was back [then].”

Ellwood said that experiential learning was a “huge priority” for the school, but offered no specific plan to ease student concerns about the curriculum.

Currently, there are two lecturers in adaptive leadership at the Kennedy School. Both teach one section each of MLD 201, which is consistently rated by alumni as the most influential course at the Kennedy School. Williams is currently the sole teacher of MLD 202, the school’s only other adaptive leadership course.

Although he did not receive promotion, Williams was granted a one-year part-time contract to remain at the Kennedy School for the coming academic year. This is an extension to a two-time, three-year lecturer contract which is part of a system Ellwood characterized as “up or out.” Under this policy, lecturers typically leave the school after three or six years or, if they are promoted, stay on board as a senior lecturer.

As part of his new part-time contract, Williams can only teach one course next year. Administrators have yet to determine whether Williams will continue to teach 201—effecting an end to 202—or continue to teach 202 while lecturer Ronald Heifetz carries on with the only section of 201.

Ellwood said he will meet with Heifetz to discuss the prospect of replacing Williams, a conversation which KSSG President Rohit Malhotra said must be followed by another discussion with students.

The decision not to promote Williams, Ellwood said, does not reflect a financial constraint, but instead a confidential faculty opinion about personnel.

When students urged Ellwood to name an action they could take to retroactively influence the decision, Ellwood said, “there’s really very little you can do.”

When the KSSG met last week, they agreed to send the open email and discussed the possibility of targeting capital campaign fundraising and bringing the issue to the national media. There was no discussion of these tactics at Tuesday’s meeting.

—Staff writer Steven R. Watros can be reached at watros@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @SteveWatros.