IOP Fellows and Study Groups Leaders Push for Changes After Exclusive Biden Invite List

Leaders of the Fellows and Study Groups program at the Institute of Politics said they are advocating for a “more inclusive system” after resident fellow Mike Donilon’s associates were passed over for invitations to former president Joe Biden’s invite-only appearance last Wednesday.

While Donilon’s team of liaisons were invited to the unannounced event, his associates — a group of undergraduates who commit to attending at least two-thirds of the study groups in exchange for guaranteed access to high-profile guests — were excluded.

“We’re committed to making sure that members of our program get seats at events that wouldn’t be possible without their hard work,” FSG co-chairs Will M. Smialek ’27 and Zoe Yu ’27 wrote in a statement. “We’ve voiced these concerns to staff, and we’re advocating for a better, more inclusive system moving forward.”

In a Saturday email sent to FSG members, Smialek and Yu reiterated that they had “no control” over the invite list, writing that the decision “was completely out of our hands.”

Smialek and Yu added that they sent IOP staff a comprehensive list of Donilon associates and FSG members to include in the event, but staff “refused” their request.

In addition to the most senior members of the IOP and FSG selected by IOP staff, the Biden event invite list also included IOP members and students “based on a lottery,” according to IOP spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke.

When The Crimson first reported that Donilon’s associates were not given access to the event hours before Biden’s arrival, an HKS spokesperson asked for a correction, writing that “Students who serve as Mike Donilon’s associates are invited to the event.”

But on Tuesday afternoon, only select students received an email inviting them to “a special event” at the IOP with an unnamed speaker.

Meanwhile, in an internal group chat, associates expressed confusion with FSG leadership about the absence of a publicized study group for that week.

Yu wrote in response that she, Smialek, and FSG deputy chair Samantha V.Y. Ruazol ’27 drafted a list of associates to be invited to an unannounced event, but staff, in collaboration with the Secret Service, decided the final invites.

“We had no control over the final list and we advocated as hard as we could for our program and members to be there,” Yu wrote in a text message to the group chat of associates early Wednesday afternoon. “We don’t know what the event is.”

As rumors circulated Wednesday morning that Biden would be appearing at the IOP, it quickly became clear that associates from Donilon’s team were not invited.

“It’s always in someone’s control,” an associate wrote in the internal group chat. “For an event like this with such a high level of security I’m sure it was staff that had their own priorities.”

In a message to the group chat the next Tuesday, Donilon’s chief of staff S. Mac Healey ’27 told associates not to speak with The Crimson if they were contacted.

“We would like to emphasize that, as part of the Fellows program, any of these discussions should happen internally and not in the pages of the Crimson,” Healey, a current Crimson Business associate and former Crimson news editor, texted in the group chat. “To be clear, we are asking that you do not respond to the Crimson.”

In their Saturday email responding to questions and concerns about the event’s invitation process, Smialek and Yu wrote that they would be meeting with IOP staff next week to “make it clear that our program was unfairly excluded from our own study group.”

“It’s unacceptable that our leadership — and especially Donilon’s Associates — were not given seats,” they wrote.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.