New Kennedy School Student Government Will Push for Larger Student Role in Dean Search

The newly elected Harvard Kennedy School Student Government will push for HKS students to play a substantial role in the ongoing search for a new dean.

KSSG President NanaEfua Afoh-Manin — who stepped into the role late last month — said the student government will press administrators for at least three students seats on the committee advising Harvard President Claudine Gay in the ongoing search for a new dean to succeed Douglas W. Elmendorf, who will step down at the end of this academic year.

Afoh-Manin said that her priority as president is improving mental health and well-being at the Kennedy School, something she hopes is prioritized in the dean search.

“Some of the challenges and feedback we’re facing is that ​this dean in particular hasn't been student-facing,” she said. “For better or for worse, universities have to choose their deans on a variety of criteria.”

Afoh-Manin specifically referenced HKS student Mateo Gomez’s death by suicide in December, which she said was emblematic of a larger mental health problem at the Kennedy School.

“Given what has just happened, finding a dean who is student facing is probably the most important thing,” she said.

KSSG Executive Vice President Zubair Merchant said the current mechanism for student input, which allows students to weigh in on the search through a dedicated email inbox, is “not enough.”

“An email where you can reply to this with your ideas — that’s not formal enough,” he said. “That’s not contractual enough or material enough for us to take that at face value, and so I do think pushing to make sure that students are on this committee is like the best way we can ensure representation.”

Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain said this is unlikely to happen.

“For a variety of reasons, it is not the University’s practice to have students serve on the faculty advisory committee for dean searches. However, input from the HKS community, including students, will be a vital part of the search,” Swain wrote in an emailed statement.

“As with previous dean searches, as the process moves forward it will include multiple ways in which students and other members of the community will be engaged to offer their input and insights,” he added.

The new members of the KSSG were elected on Sept. 18 and met for the first time on Monday.

Other priorities for the KSSG this year include adding a vice president for mental health and well-being, improving support for international students, expanding inter-program socializing and collaboration, and revamping “quorum calls” — weekly social events held in the Kennedy School Winter Garden — to include events like open mics and fashion shows.

“We definitely want to make sure we have an inclusive environment where people feel whole and there’s a safe space and that we focus on mental well-being,” said Olamide Osundolu Atanda, the vice president of diversity, equity, and anti-racism. “We’re one HKS and we’re here working for the student body, so we invite them to come to our meetings, we invite the student body to share their concerns so we can really move in a collective fashion to make change, real change.”

At its first meeting on Monday, the KSSG passed a resolution to release $10,000 to start funding requests from student groups, though the body did not pass the full budget.

Merchant said that the budget wasn’t passed at Monday’s meeting because of the need for further discussion about the allocation of the funding.

Funding for the KSSG is dependent on the $220 student activity fee paid by each HKS student as part of their tuition. Since this year has a lower enrollment due to last year’s Covid-19 deferrals, there is less money to allocate to the KSSG budget, which includes organizational funding, the winter and spring formals, quorum calls and events hosted by class representatives.

“For the remainder of the budget, I’m really hoping by the end of the next meeting, we can get it passed so that there’s clarity about the road going forward,” Merchant said.

Last September, IT issues and tensions roiled the KSSG elections — and in the following months, the body suffered from low meeting turnout, often struggling to meet quorum. In April, representatives attempted to move the elections for president and executive vice president to the start of the spring semester to improve the transition process. The proposal never went to a vote, with opponents arguing that it would prevent single-year students from seeking election.

Afoh-Manin said the problem may have stemmed from divisions between different degree programs at the Kennedy School, an issue she hopes to combat by promoting a unified HKS “brand.”

“We need to promote ourselves, and let people feel proud, not just of the Harvard brand, but actual students who are here, who have the potential to do amazing things,” she said, “Let’s celebrate them now, so they feel just as important as the brand itself.”

Correction: October 6, 2023

A previous version of this article used the incorrect surname for KSSG Executive Vice President Zubair Merchant.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.