October 4, 2011

Transcription

October 4, 2011

THECITIZEN
VOL. 17 NO. 2 | OCT OBE R 4 , 2011
THE FR E E S TUDE NT NE W S PA P E R OF T HE HA R VAR D K E NNE DY S C HOOL
HA R VA RDC I TI Z E N . COM
the university level.
Student groups do not consider the amount to be enough
and are calling for more investment in public education.
About 80 percent of Chileans are said to support students’ demand for fair and
affordable access to public education. As a result of this disagreement,
Piñera’s approval rating has dropped to
26 percent-- the lowest for any president
since the reinstatement of democracy in
1990.
On a different note, Piñera also
warned against the weakness of the current international system of governance
and added that governments, no matter
how powerful, are unable to act on their
own to deal with 21st century challenges
ranging from economic crises, to drug
trafficking, and from global warming
Chilean President Discusses
Government’s Education Reforms
drew to the Forum more than a dozen
local demonstrators demanding educational equality in Chile.
Denying claims that his administration had suppressed student protests,
Piñera acknowledged the students’ constitutional right to demonstrate in the
streets. However, he said that the way
to resolve differences “is not through
Molotov bombs, or rocks, or violence…
but through dialogue.”
Despite his government’s failure so
far in engaging student groups and
resolving differences through dialogue,
Piñera was optimistic and claimed that
“improving the quality of education is
not only a great, noble, and beautiful
cause; it is the main mission of the government.”
“We agree that we should guarantee free education at the school level…
before these inequalities become absolutely irreversible,” Piñera said, “but
at the university level, we think that
education should be free only for those
people who really need it, because we
don’t think it’s feasible and we don’t
think it’s fair to use taxpayer’s money to
finance all education.” Piñera added that
his government has committed all the
resources necessary, including 4 billion
dollars to finance education reform at
HKS Students Sail Out
for a Great Year Ahead!
within Harvard
community.
Zach Wineburg,
a Mid-Career
MPA student,
said, “It was
such a fantastic
occasion to meet
with other students in HKS.
The weather was
perfect. I am
looking forward
to what KSSG
has planned next.”
As the night progressed, the ship
gradually turned itself into a moving
club on the sea. People started dancing
on multiple sections of the ship, particularly the upper deck, while others in a
mellower mood enjoyed pleasant conversations below deck. The celebration
continued until midnight when the ship
safely returned to the same port which it
left behind three hours ago. All the students disembarked and returned to their
homes without incident — fortunately
Dharana Rijal, News Writer, MPP ‘13
Cambridge, Sept 23 - Speaking at an
event at the J.F.K Jr. Forum, Chilean
President Sebastián Piñera defended
his administration’s strategy in tackling
Chile’s development challenges, including education reform, which has incited
numerous student protests across Chile
in the past couple of months.
The most recent demonstration,
which took place the day before Piñera’s
address, saw tens of thousands of students flooding Chilean streets, demanding fair and affordable access to public
education. Piñera’s speech on Friday also
Continued on page 7
Skyscrapers far in the horizon, shining stars above in the sky, a balmy 70
degrees complimented by the light
breeze blowing on students’ faces—the
evening of September 21, 2011 turned
out to be a perfect occasion for 400
Harvard Kennedy School students and
their friends to sail out onto the Boston
Harbor and celebrate the beginning of
the great year ahead.
Though it had rained just the day
before, on that beautiful autumn evening Boston Harbor was as calm as it
could ever be. All the guests arrived
dressed up in their sharpest attire for
what would become a memorable evening.
The night cruise was the first event
hosted by the newly elected members
of the Kennedy School Student Government headed by President Sherry
Hakimi and Executive Vice President
Georgeta Dragoiu. The student government members gathered just before 8
pm to decorate and set up snacks for
their classmates. Slowly, the boat filled
up with smiling students out for a good
time and it finally left the dock after all
the party goers were safely on board.
The students on the ship were a
diverse lot hailing from all the various
programs within HKS. Friends from
other schools, such as the Harvard Business School, also joined in the festivities. It was a great place for students to
interact with others from different programs and reach out to the other schools
THE MISSION MATTERS
MORE THAN DADT
AN INTERVIEW WITH
TIM MCCARTHY
CELEBRATING OUR PAST,
ENVISIONING OUR FUTURE
PAEasy: A humorist’s perspective.
By Cristina Garmendia.
PAGE 7
By Matt Bieber.
PAGE 8
Dean Ellwood on HKS’s 75th Anniversary.
PAGE 10
By Christopher Gustafson.
PAGE 13
Ryoji Watanabe, News Writer,
MC/MPA ‘12
Students on the upper deck of Boston Harbor cruise ship. Photo
Courtesy of Shannon Clark.
for the KSSG, none of the party-goers
were so intoxicated as to fall into the sea!
The boat cruise was a great opportunity for students to establish new friendships and re-connect with classmates.
Following the successful conclusion of
its first event, the student government
aims to host more exciting activities
throughout the year that will provide
students with opportunities to interContinued on page 7
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2
THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 4, 2011
CITIZENNEWS
Attracting the best and
the brightest
The HKS philosophy of financial aid
Alexi White, Opinions Editor, MPP ‘13
At first, Mark Truman wasn’t sure leaving his small test preparation business and going back to school was the
right choice. But when he scrutinized
the Kennedy School’s Master in Public
Policy program, he was attracted by its
interdisciplinary nature, the emphasis
on service and idealism, and of course
the Harvard name.
“I had family and career concerns
about coming to HKS,” Truman said.
“The choice for me was not between two
colleges, but rather between attending
HKS or not attending at all.”
Which is why being awarded a Dean’s
Fellowship helped tip the scale toward
attending. Truman, now in his first year,
is unsure as to whether he would have
made the same choice without it.
“It certainly made it easier, but to say
to what degree is really challenging,”
Stephanie Streletz is the director of
student financial services at HKS. She’s
proud that financial assistance has doubled to approximately $22 million since
2004, including aid from donors, costsharing partnerships, university-wide
funds, and the internal budget. And that
doesn’t include student loans co-signed
by the university or the cost of the Loan
Repayment Assistance Program for
domestic loans.
Percentage of domestic students
receiving scholarship/fellowship aid
and average amount (Fall 2010)
Mason: 57%, $34,228
MPA/MC: 35%, $28,983
MPA: 70%, $26,915
MPP: 48%, $32,712
MPAID: 50%, $35,638
“Financial assistance is one of the
school’s first priorities,” Streletz says.
“People have been laid off so that aid
doesn’t need to be cut.”
Domestic and international students
in the class of 2011 borrowed an average of $58,050 and $22,550 respectively
to cover the cost of their degree. Streletz
concedes these numbers show there is
still much room for improvement and
points to Harvard’s upcoming capital
campaign as a potential source of new
funds.
Part of the reason some students have
to borrow so much is that only twenty
percent of all financial assistance is
distributed solely on the basis of need.
Instead, the vast majority of funds are
used to recruit top students who demonstrate leadership potential, academic
achievement, a commitment to public
service, and a “uniqueness factor.”
“It is a strong message from the school
Percentage of international students
receiving scholarship/fellowship aid
and average amount (Fall 2010)
Mason: 30%, $52,223
MPA/MC: 26%, $69,024
MPA: 49%, $33,069
MPP: 45%, $32,655
MPAID: 65%, $43,856
Cambridge Celebrates Second Year
as a Local Economy Community
Cristina Garmendia, News Writer, MPP
‘13
Cambridge declared itself the first Local
Economy Community in the nation
last August in a policy order resolution
spearheaded by Kennedy MPA student
and Cambridge City Councilor Leland
Cheung. The resolution presented powerful research demonstrating why governments ought to encourage local purchasing. “Money spent at locally-owned
businesses,” says Cheung, “contributes
57% more to the local economy than
does money spent at non-locally owned
businesses and keeps valuable services
and jobs in the city.”
What is a Local Economy Community? It is composed of entrepreneurs
and small business owners with deep
and meaningful ties to the place where
they live and work, says Bill Ailet,
managing director of MIT’s Entrepreneurship Center. In an interview with
WickedLocal, Ailet asserted that Cambridge has a fair claim to the title of
“most entrepreneurial city in the United
States,” with Kendall Square reputedly
having between four to five times as
many start-ups per square mile than any
other place in the world.
On his campaign website, Councilor Cheung lists as one of his campaign promises “Promote Local Products.” This promise is one close to his
heart:“My mother was a small business
owner--she was a baker, so it has always
been an interest of mine.” His commitment to local business issues led him to
reaffirm the declaration of Cambridge’s
Local Economy Week for September
26- October 2. The program, he says,
presents the City of Cambridge with a
great opportunity to review its progress
towards the resolution: (1) achieve 10
percent municipal procurement from
local businesses, (2) encourage local
banks to bid for municipal banking services, (3) support schools in procuring
locally grown food, (4) emphasize the
importance of buying local to the public,
and (5) continue to consider policies
that support the growth of locally owned
businesses.
Cheung, also chair of the Economic
Development Committee, states, “I
started the Local Economy Task Force
one and a half years ago, which has done
two things: declared Local Economy
that merit is more important than
need. We’re looking for the best and the
brightest,” said Streletz. “Each year in
our analysis, the rate of acceptance from
those offered aid is consistently higher
than those who were not.”
Natasha Warikoo, a professor at the
Harvard School of Graduate Education with expertise in higher education
administration, expressed surprise that
HKS relies so heavily on merit-based
assistance.
“People who avail themselves of merit
aid tend to be able to afford school
already,” said Warikoo. “There has been
a rise in merit aid among second-tier
universities to improve their status, but
I would assume the Kennedy School is
seen as one of the top policy schools in
the country.”
One of the Kennedy School’s main
competitors, the Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International
Affairs at Princeton, has a different philosophy of financial assistance. Its small
student body and comparatively large
endowment allows for a greater level of
per-student aid. Covering all students’
tuition costs is the first priority; the
remainder goes to those with the greatest need.
Continued on page 4
Week and advocated for the City of
Cambridge to bank locally with taxpayer
dollars.” The City of Cambridge currently banks with Citibank, a subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland. According
to Janneke House, Executive Director
of Cambridge Local First, that might
change soon. “We also encourage residents and even our member businesses
to move [their banking] to one of Cambridge’s locally owned banks: Cambridge
Trust Company, Cambridge Savings
Bank, and East Cambridge Savings
Bank,” he says.
House has been working with Councilor Cheung in making government
support of the local economy a priority.
She explains, “Local government needs
to be a leader in encouraging city staff
and city departments to encourage the
building of the local economy. [Local]
business owners invest all their time
and talent into the community.” Cheung
clarifies, “It’s not the business of government to keep businesses in business.
People should think about the economic
impact of their purchasing decisions.”
NE W S 1 –7 | FE ATURE 8–9 | OP I NI ONS 10 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3 –15
3
CITIZENNEWS
THECITIZEN
ency. (Georgia’s governor does not
have the power to grant clemency.)
Anti-death penalty groups directed
hundreds of letters towards state
officials, while the Innocence Project, famous for exonerating death
row inmates through the use of
DNA testing, sent a letter to the
county district attorney urging him to
retract the death order. Groups staged
vigils in solidarity across the U.S. and
Europe, with signs and T-shirts stating “I am Troy Davis.” Some tried more
desperate measures like urging prison
workers to stay home and calling Georgia judges at their home addresses.
On the evening of the execution, as
many as 700 gathered outside the prison
in Georgia and the Supreme Court in
Washington, shouting slogans and praying for Davis’s safety.
In Harvard Square, nearly two
hundred gathered to take part
in a vigil organized by Amnesty
International to coincide with
Davis’s expected time of execution
at 7:00pm. According to Joshua
Rubenstein, Amnesty International’s Northeast Director, students
and members of Cambridge’s antideath penalty community joined
together to pray, show solidarity,
and listen to up-to-the-minute
situation updates on Democracy
Now! “We were startled by cheering in Georgia,” he recalls. “We
didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe
something positive had happened, we
thought… everyone had their Blackberries out checking for an announcement.”
But hope turned to despair as everyone realized that the reprieve was only a
temporary one and that the writing was
on the wall. At 11:00pm – four hours
behind schedule -- Davis was wheeled
into the death chamber. He died at
11:08pm.
Davis’s supporters, both on campus
and in the community, insist that their
fight is not over. “Georgia’s execution
of Troy Davis was simply unconscionable,” says Leon Ratz, MPP1. “The decision by authorities to go ahead with the
execution despite significant doubts over
Davis’s guilt reflects not only the arbitrariness of the application of the death
penalty, but also the sheer barbarity of
it.” Rubenstein adds: “In 2007 the Board
vowed that no execution would go for-
News Editor
Shloka Nath, MPP ‘13
Georgia man executed
over cries of his innocence
Assistant News Editor
Zachary Rosenfeld, MPP ‘13
Zachary Rosenfeld, Assistant News
Editor, MPP ‘13
Editor-in-Chief
Irene Shih, MPP ‘13
News Writers
Matt Bieber, MPP ‘11
Cristina Garmendia, MPP ‘13
Dharana Rijal, MPP ‘13
Imran Sarwar, MPP ‘13
Khaleel Seecharan, MC/MPA ‘12
Ryoji Watanabe, MC/MPA ‘12
Opinions Editor
Alexi White, MPP ‘13
Assistant Opinions Editor
Carli Hetland, MPP ‘13
Opinions Writer
Sujoyini Mandal, MPP ‘13
Culture Editor
Sherry Hakimi, MPP ‘12
Culture Writers
Alex Remington, MPP ‘13
Humor Columnist
Chris Gustafson, MPP ‘12
Photographer
Grace Chung, MPP ‘12
Business Manager
Mike Conway, MPP ‘13
Web Developers
Kristina Redgrave, MPP ‘13
Jesus Bolivar, MPA-ID2
Diane Chang, MPP ‘13
Layout & Design
Janell Sims
Website
http://harvardcitizen.com
Contact
[email protected]
Interested in
contributing to
the Citizen?
Please contact
[email protected].
Troy Davis – a death row inmate in
Georgia who for many had come to
personify the injustice and racial skew
of the American death penalty – was
executed by lethal injection on the evening of Wednesday 9/21. Anti-death
penalty activists worldwide collectively
held their breaths as the Supreme Court
extended Davis a surprise, last-minute
reprieve, only to have their hopes dashed
when the justices weighed the case and
summarily denied him a stay of execution.
According to witnesses, Davis
remained defiant even his last moments.
Looking directly through the glass
window to the taciturn son and brother
of the man he allegedly murdered, Davis
insisted that they and the state were
punishing the wrong person.
“I am innocent,” said Davis. “All I can
ask is that you look deeper into this case
so you really can finally see the truth.”
He then exhorted his supporters to
“keep the faith” and said to prison personnel, “May God have mercy on your
souls; may God bless your souls.”
The family of the victim, Mark
McPhail, was not moved. “He’s been
telling himself that for 22 years,” said
Annaleise McPhail, the victim’s mother,
in a telephone interview with CBS News.
“You know how it is; he can talk himself
into anything.” Both the McPhails and
state prosecutors asserted that justice
had finally been served after a long,
exhaustive, and in many ways convoluted and frustrating appeals process.
Davis, 44, stood accused in 1991 for
the murder of Mark McPhail, a Savannah police officer, during a heated confrontation in a local parking lot. He
was convicted and sentenced to death
primarily on the testimony of nine witnesses, seven claiming that they had
seen Davis shoot McPhail and two
others testifying that they had heard
Davis admit to committing the crime.
Defenders point to the fact that, aside
from their key witnesses, the pros-
ecution presented very little evidence
directly tying Davis to the crime, and
that most of the evidence that they did
present was circumstantial. Later, all
but two of these witnesses submitted
affidavits rescinding their testimony in
whole or in part, some claiming that
they had been coerced to false testimony
by aggressive Georgia police and others
alleging that they had seen another man,
Sylvester Coles, murder McPhail. (Coles
was one of the two witnesses who did
not change his testimony.)
Paris demonstration for Troy Davis. Photo Courtesy of World
Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Davis’s execution was delayed a total
of four times while Georgia’s courts considered whether new evidence and testimony “clearly established Davis’s innocence.” Each time prosecutors dismissed
the defense’s arguments as “smoke and
mirrors” with great emotional appeal but
little basis in evidence or reality. They
demonstrated, for example, that some
of the defense’s affidavits were not true
recantations at all, and cast doubt on
Davis’s strategy when his lawyers failed
to allow important witnesses stand for
cross-examination. Lower court judges
consistently ruled in the prosecutors’
favor, frustrating a defense team who
said their hands were tied by an unfair
“guilty until proven innocent” standard.
A record 630,000 petitions – signed
from supporters from within Georgia,
across the United States, and around the
world – urged the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Davis clem-
Continued on page 12
4
CITIZENNEWS
HKS Alum and Chavez Opponent,
Leopoldo Lopez Launches Presidential Bid
Shloka Nath, News Editor, MPP ‘13
In what is likely to be seen as a significant boon for Venezuelan democracy,
Leopoldo López – HKS alum, technocrat and former mayor of the affluent
Chacao district of Caracas – recently
launched his campaign to contest President Hugo Chavez in elections next year.
Previously barred from seeking election
on corruption charges, Lopez made his
decision after the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights (IACHR) ordered
Venezuela last month to allow him to
run.
“Since 2008, he’s been looking for
a mechanism to remove me from the
political game,” López said in a speech
before thousands of supporters in Caracas. “Mr. President, I ask myself: ... Are
you afraid of me?”
To many, López’s background would
appear to be a severe disadvantage in
a country like Venezuela, where the
government’s poor and working-class
constituency is frequently stirred into
an agitated fury against the rich, upper
classes. Young and photogenic, López, is
a sinewy man with a charismatic smile
and personality and comes from one
of Venezuela’s richest families. López
graduated from the Harvard Kennedy
School of Government in 1996 with a
Masters in Public Policy. He is related to
both Venezuela’s first President, Cristobal Mendoza, and Simón Bolivar, considered the Liberator of both Venezuela
and Colombia. In 2007 he married
Lilian Tintori, a former professional athlete with whom he has one daughter.
But López has dampened such denigration and grown into an intimidating activist and campaigner, pounding
away on issues such as high crime rates,
electricity shortages and inflation, all of
which he believes affect the poor most
severely. According to López, Venezuelans have had enough of what they say
is Mr Chavez’s poor economic management and autocratic style. López has
also nurtured support among members
of the U.S. Congress and in countries
that have close ties to Venezuela, such as
Spain and Colombia.
Leopoldo Lopez. By User: Camila84 (Own work) [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons.
Venezuela’s Comptroller General,
an ally of Chávez, banned Lopez from
running for public office in 2004 over
two independent allegations of financial misconduct. López was charged
with taking donations between 1998 and
2001 on behalf of an organization he led
from the state oil company Petroleos de
Venezuela SA, where his mother worked
at the time. The comptroller general
also accused López in 2004 of supposed
indiscretions in the movement of funds
from one portion of his local budget to
another. Lopez however, insists he is
innocent, that the charges are politically
motivated and that he has never been
tried in court.
López is one of several contenders in
primary elections to be held in February when Venezuela’s opposition alliance
will nominate a single representative to
run against President Chávez in October
2012. The current favorites to win the
opposition nomination in February’s
primary are the governor of Miranda
state, Henrique Capriles Radonski, and
the governor of Zulia state, Pablo Perez.
They are the same age as López (Chávez
is 57) and gravitate about the ideological
center. Almost all their supporters will
back the winner of the primary. But to
defeat Chávez, the opposition will still
have to widen its appeal. Disappointed
and resentful Chávez supporters have
in the past, refused to vote rather than
vote against him. None of the opposition candidates has framed a message to
attract them, although Capriles is likely
to incite the most favorable reaction
from Chavez supporters.
Chávez has governed Venezuela since
1999, winning every national election
over the last decade. The leftist leader is
determined to run for a third six-year
term, despite undergoing surgery in
June for cancer. In 2009 he won a referendum to eliminate term limits, paving
the way for him to rule far into the 21st
century, were he to keep winning elections. Chávez still is a formidable candidate; he has strong support, particularly
among the poor who have benefited
most from his socialist policies, which
have seen Venezuela’s oil riches spent
on services including health and education. He will not be easy to unseat.
“Financial aid,” continued from page 2
According to the Wilson School’s
website, its goal is reducing student
debt so that graduates can afford to
take jobs in the public sector. It may be
why in 2010, only 16% of the Wilson
School’s MPA graduates took positions
in the private sector compared to 29%
of MPP graduates at HKS.
John Templeton, coordinator of the
Wilson School’s admissions office, said
equity concerns are the chief reason for
the focus on reducing need. He said he
knows of the occasional student who
chooses HKS after receiving a large
scholarship, but that the Wilson School
doesn’t feel it has trouble recruiting top
students.
“Quite honestly, we don’t lose enough
of our top ranked admits for financial
reasons,” Templeton said.
For Truman, attracting a diverse set
of students with unique strengths and
experiences is worthwhile and will
serve the institution well over time.
Continued on page 9
Greece and the Crisis in the
Eurozone
Dharana Rijal, News Writer, MPP ‘13
Before entering the eurozone in 1999,
member countries had to satisfy the
Maastricht criteria, which required that
their inflation could be no more than 1.5
percent a year, their budget deficit could
be no more than 3 percent of the GDP,
and that their debt-to-GDP ratio could
be no more than 60 percent.
However, not all member countries
were diligent in ensuring that their
budgets were truly line with the stringent criteria. Moreover, many continued
to depart from the criteria after joining
the monetary union.
After years of flawed accounting and
unbridled spending and consumption,
Greece today faces a debt and deficit
crisis such that its gross government
debt is expected to be about 166 percent
of GDP in 2011. Its deficit is expected
to be about 8 percent of GDP in 2011.
(Source: IMF- Fiscal Monitor).
Given their exposure to Greek bonds,
international financial institutions and
countries follow the Greek government
balance closely. In May 2010, Greece
received a rescue package of 750 billion
euros through the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF). This required
that Greece implement strict measures
to reduce its government balance. However, Greece has continued to struggle to
implement these measures.
Since it is part of the monetary union,
Greece cannot use exchange rates in
order to get competitive in the international market. It seems doomed to
default on its debt unless further financial assistance is provided.
However, following the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank last
weekend, a new European rescue package seems to be emerging. The plan, if
implemented, would increasue the size
of EFSF to 2 trillion euros, which would
help to write down half of Greece’s
public debt.
5
CITIZENNEWS
The Uncertain Future
of Microfinance
Imran Sarwar, News Writer, MPP ‘13
Microfinance has lost its halo. Once
touted as the instrument for economic
advancement of the poor, an enterprise
model that was not only self-sustainable
but also socially responsible, the microfinance sector’s efficacy is now in doubt.
Microfinance started out as the work
of nonprofit organizations and then
shifted to for-profit companies, providing small loans to poor borrowers
to help them generate income and lift
themselves out of poverty. But there
has been a drastic shift from this starting principle. Microfinance organizations have focused attention on generating high profits on these loans in
order to pay back the debt based on
which these loans were financed, and
cover their operating costs. Loans were
thus, extended to the poor left, right
and center, as microfinance institutions (MFIs) increased their portfolios, charged exorbitant interest without
taking into account the ability of the
clients to repay. In turn, these MFIs displayed amazing growth rates at the end
of each fiscal year. Effects of high growth
rates at break-neck speed are starting to
show. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, in
his recent article “Microfinance Lenders:
To Profit or Not To Profit”, finds that forprofit MFIs in India tend to have higher
costs and expenses, and consequentially
higher interest rates.
These high interest rates, coupled with
not-so-pleasant recovery mechanisms
may have resulted in events such as
suicides of close to 30 borrowers in the
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Sheikh
Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has declared that MFIs are “sucking the blood from the poor in the name
of poverty alleviation”. MFIs in Pakistan are having a hard time recovering
disbursed loans after a series of natural
disasters struck the country. Many Rural
Support Programs in Pakistan have had
to wrap up their operations in some
locations hit by the 2010 flood. MFIs
are having trouble recovering loans
from over-indebted borrowers who
were given the loans for non-productive
purposes in an attempt to increase loan
portfolios.
In an environment where different
MFIs are concerned about financial sustainability and are looking for ways to
increase interest rates even further in
THE CITIZEN CHEAT SHEET:
Obama’s Deficit Plan
Khaleel Seecharan, News Writer, MC/
MPA ‘12
Last month President Obama proposed
a ten-year plan aimed at shaving of $3
trillion dollars of the United States deficit. Coming on the heels of the acrimonious debt ceiling agreement that
paralyzed the nation over the summer,
Obama hopes to submit this plan to the
bi-partisan committee that was created
to work towards a firm debt reduction
course of action by December 23rd. If
an agreement is not reached by December 23rd, $1.2 million in cuts will occur
regardless what Obama’s plan outlines as
a result of the debt ceiling agreement.
Obama’s plan is the first salvo in what
is expected to be a contentious debate
between Democrats and Republicans
that must be resolved over the next few
months. In presenting the plan, President Obama said “I will veto any bill that
changes benefits for those who rely on
order to meet growing costs, one Pakistan based organization, Akhuwat, is
giving microloans totally interest-free.
In a recently published paper entitled,
‘Akhuwat – it sometimes makes sense to
break the rules,’ Malcolm Harper, Chairman Micro-Credit Ratings International, noted the organization is unique
“Because it breaks just about all the generally accepted rules of microfinance,
but has nevertheless (or perhaps for
that reason) survived and grown”. The
most significant of these is the insistence
on interest-free loans. The organization derives inspiration from teachings
of Islam, though it serves all religions,
and considers charging interest not only
Medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their
fair share. We are not going to have a
one-sided deal that hurts the folks who
are most vulnerable.”
The Citizen has compiled a list of key
initiatives from the plan that are sure to
come under contentious debate on Capitol Hill in the months to come:
t $1.5 trillion of tax increases combined
with $1.5 trillion of spending cuts/
savings for a total debt reduction of $3
trillion.
t Creation of the so-called “Buffett
Rule” – named after the pro-tax billionaire Warren Buffett – which holds
that “no person should pay less in
income taxes than his or her secre-
Wife and daughters of Abdul Aziz, a borrower of Akhuwat from
Faisalabad, working on cone yarn winding machines bought with
the help of microloan. Photo Courtesy of Imran Sarwar.
against the principles of Islam, but also
unjust when dealing with the poorest
strata of society. Working since 2001,
Akhuwat has expanded into more than
30 cities in Pakistan, served more than
100,000 families and disbursed approximately $14 million. Just how have they
done this?
The secret lies in the name: Akhuwat, literally translated as ‘brotherhood’,
a spirit whereby each member looks
after the other in the community. The
Continued on page 13
tary.” In practice, this will result in
the creation of a new tax bracket for
households that earn more than $1
million in annual income.
t The expiration of tax cuts introduced
during the Bush presidency and the
restructuring of tax deductions for
families making more than $250,000
annually or individuals making more
than $200,000 annually.
t $500 billion set aside for job creations
to stimulate a struggling economy.
t Adjustments to Medicare, Medicaid, agriculture subsidies, and federal
retirement programs.
t Savings from the planned ending of
the Iraq and Afghanistan military
engagements.
6
celebrating
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7
CITIZENNEWS
Future Military Leaders: The
Mission Matters More than DADT
Cristina Garmendia, News Writer, MPP
‘ 13
Following the historic end of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT)
policy on September 20, The Citizen
interviewed nine soldiers, sailors, and
airmen from the Harvard Kennedy
School community about their opinions
and reactions.
Dan Futrell, MPP2, spent five years
on active duty in the U.S. Army. As a
Captain, he commanded 30-60 soldiers.
His response to critics of the repeal of
DADT: “We hold up the military as a
mature and professional fighting force
and we ask them to handle incredibly
hard and complex problems. To then
assume that they are not mature and
professional enough to handle homosexuality in the ranks is contradictory to
everything we have seen in the past ten
years [of war].”
Commander Scott Farr, a National
Security Fellow, just turned over command of a Navy squadron, having been
in charge of implementing DADT policy
until August 9. Says Farr on the implementation process: “The Navy and
Marine Corps took a very systematic
approach to it, from the top down. The
Chief of Naval Operations had a multimedia program where he briefed us, and
then there were facilitators were trained
at the fleet level who facilitated discussion among the unit commanders. The
discussion was wide ranging and covered a lot of what-if scenarios.”
Commander Farr describes how on
the day after the repeal, “I called up my
former executive officer who is now in
command, wondering how our command was doing.” The response was,
“Just another day.”
The responsibilities of military leaders
haven’t changed at all, Farr states. “It’s up
to you to ensure good leadership, dignity, and professionalism in your unit.”
Captain Ryan Miller, MPP1 and an
Army Ranger, shared a similar sentiment from his experience as the infantry
officer of a 40-member platoon: “I don’t
think it’s as big of a leadership challenge
as its opponents made it out to be.” He
explains, “They were focusing on these
points that really didn’t matter: the
army would be less cohesive, enlistment
would go down… etc. They will make
it work… we have the most adaptable
army in the world.”
A number of other HKS servicemen and
women agreed to comment on condition of anonymity:
“I support the spirit of the repeal of
DADT, but I criticize the practicality
of the repeal and those fighting for it.
This is a peacetime issue and it’s deplorable that our military’s leaders are being
forced to spend time and energy on this
issue while we’re at war.”
DADT. It seemed like such a bulwark
policy, kind of like military pensions,
untouchable. It seemed to me as a reasonable way to allow homosexuals to
serve and to assuage the moral sensibilities of people against it. There was
a time I would have defended DADT.
Why create a lot of drama for commanders when there is a war going on?
But my views have really changed on it.
Now I think repealing DADT is a total
non-issue.”
“DADT was a policy of Bill Clintonnot the military. I would like to see us
move on and stop talking about it. The
military has more important things to
do. Why is this an issue when ten soldiers are killed every week?”
“It’s going to be extremely liberating as
an officer who is tasked to manage the
emotional and psychological health of
his subordinates, because it is a huge
aspect of military leadership to really
know your people and how they can do
their job. [The DADT repeal] is one of
the biggest instances of military implementing a policy change and explaining
it. They are doing a good job at walking through step by step and doing the
appropriate training.”
“It is a little personal because a good
friend of mine who was killed in
Afghanistan, everyone was pretty sure
he was gay but he was the most phenomenal leaders I have ever seen. He
was perfect. It was really sad that he
died, highly decorated, without ever
being able to be himself. I never really
thought about it until the issue [of
DADT repeal] started coming out, but
he was the first person I thought about.”
“[Repealing DADT] is the right thing
for change but it won’t be easy. I think
as wrong as it is; it’s going to change the
cohesiveness of some specific units, like
the war fighting units, as opposed to the
support units.”
Judging by the opinions of those servicemen and women currently in the
MPP program, there seemed to be two
distinct camps: those who felt conflicting emotions and believed that implementation of the DADT repeal would
be difficult and possibly detrimental to
the war effort, and those who believed
that the military is very good at adapting to change and that implementation
would not change day to day operations
whatsoever. Some registered happiness
for their gay compatriots, some admitted
to have not given much thought to the
issue, others expressed a desire to simply
drop it and move on. It seems that they
are all united, however, in their desire to
integrate newly-outed homosexuals into
the military quickly, effectively, and with
little fuss so that they can get on with
their most important mission: defending
the United States.
“Integrity is part and parcel about who
we are. If the institution is forcing someone to be dishonest, the institution is not
being faithful to our core values. Repealing DADT drops that barrier.”
“There are protocols against fraternization already in place. [Gays] are adhering to the same principles of soldiers and
sailors, so the argument that gays will
disrupt the ‘neighborhood’ is flawed.”
“I was in the military for effectively ten
years of my life and it never came up as a
topic, either directly or indirectly. From
an abstract standpoint there was a time
I couldn’t even conceive of the repeal of
“Chilean President,” continued from page 1
to terrorism. “We cannot pretend to
govern the world with old institutions,”
he said, “governments will have to give
up part of their sovereignty to advance
international governance.”
In his speech, Piñera also reflected on
the economic gains Chile had achieved
in the past few years. He acknowledged
that the threat of mid-income traps was
real, however, and said that Chile has to
keep working hard to not slide back on
its progress.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Chile’s per capita income
at $15000 (based on Purchasing Power
Parity) is the highest in Latin America.
Its economy is also expected to grow
at 6.5 percent in 2011. Owing to such
economic achievements, it became a
member of the OECD in 2010-- the
only country from South America to
have managed to do so.
“HKS Sails,” continued from page 1
act with people from other programs.
According to President Hakimi and
Executive Vice President Dragoiu, “The
boat cruise was an excellent way to set
the tone for how KSSG plans to run this
year: fun-filled, inclusive, and organized!”
THECITIZEN
Like us on Twitter
& Facebook!
Twitter: #HKSTheCitizen
Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/pages/
The-Citizen/96376824154
Also, The Citizen will launch an all
new website in November! Stay
tuned for content updates, media
and many more features to come!
8
CITIZENFEATURE
From a Position of Moral Strength
Tim McCarthy on the President, the Republican Party, and
Life as a Second-Class Citizen
Matt Bieber, Features Columnist, MPP/
MDiv ‘13
Timothy Patrick McCarthy is core
faculty and director of the Sexuality,
Gender, and Human Rights Program
at the Carr Center for Human Rights
Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He
also served as a founding member of
Barack Obama’s National LGBT Leadership Council.
McCarthy’s books include: The Radical Reader: A Documentary History of
the American Radical Tradition (New
Press, 2003), now in its second printing; Prophets of Protest: Reconsidering the History of American Abolitionism (New Press, 2006); and Protest
Nation: Words That Inspired a Century of
American Radicalism (New Press, 2010).
In 2010 you pointed out that a range
of high-profile Republicans, including
Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, Ken Mehlman, and Ted Olson, have come out in
favor of same-sex marriage, and you
also suggested that we might begin
to see the Republican Party courting
queer folk more actively – particularly
if the Democratic Party continued,
in your words, “picking and choosing
which portion of our humanity is safe
to support at any given moment.” How
do you conceive of the relationship
between the Republican Party and the
LGBT community today?
Historians should never predict the
future, or try to predict the future. You
know, that piece was meant to be very
provocative, and it was. And there were
a lot of people that gave me a lot of
push-back for it.
At the end of the day, the Republican Party has got to prove something
to us, period. This, “Oh, let’s all come
together and have this conversation…”
No, you’ve done nothing for us but
deny us. You have some gays in your log
cabin, or your “tent,” or whatever spatial
metaphor you’d like to use. Certainly, we
know that there are more than enough
queer folks in your ranks, most of them
in the closet. Get your act together. That
would be my very frank assessment of
where they stand. As an openly gay man
in America, I have absolutely no faith
that the Republican Party, as a political
party, will in any reasonable amount of
time be described as an ally in the struggle for LGBT rights. They still oppose
the struggle for LGBT equality.
That said, everyone has to navigate
their own political affiliations. I’m still a
registered Democrat for a whole variety
of reasons, which I can justify, more or
less, on any given day. You know, we live
in a two-party system, where you can
register as an independent or something else. But at the end of the day,
if you want to have any kind of traction, feel like you’re part of the political process, you have to choose. It’s an
either-or thing. I lament that; I wish that
weren’t the case. I wish we had a political
system that was far more variegated and
homogenous and where there’s more
power to be shared among different
kinds of interests, but we don’t have that.
Heterogeneous.
Oh, did I say “homogenous”?
Yes.
No, I mean “homosexual.” [Laughs] Heterogeneous. Yeah, much more heterogeneous; I would love that. But at the
end of the day, the Republican Party has
never ever sided with LGBT folks in any
kind of formal institutional political way
that would suggest that they’re going to
assist us in our struggle for equality.
That said, I think they have a real
problem. One of my biggest pet peeves
is when the Republican Party says
they’re party of Lincoln. Well, if you’re
the party of Lincoln, when it comes to
LGBT folks, you’re a house divided, in
the sense that you have a whole bunch
of people that oppose us who basically
run the house, and then a whole bunch
of folks who are in your party who are
living in the closets in that house. So,
you’ve got your own house divided. It’s a
very different one than Lincoln had.
But at the end of the day, you need
to get your house in order, because you
have all these toe-tapping politicians and
these folks who are voting against every
gay rights piece of legislation and they’re
trying to get a little gay sex on the side.
At the end of the day, that’s not my contradiction. That’s not my problem. It certainly has a bearing on my life and the
life of my queer brothers and sisters. But
at the end of the day, they’ve created this
hypocrisy and it’s becoming more and
more untenable and embarrassing by the
minute.
When Ken Mehlman came out and all
that happened…I didn’t know what to
feel. On the one hand, I felt enormous
empathy for this gay guy, who’s lived his
entire life as a closet case, and I lived too
long that way myself for different reasons. But as a person who is positioned
across from him in the culture war, in
the positions that he held in the Republican Party, I have nothing but disdain
for what he has participated in. I’m not
saying he necessarily orchestrated all
those anti-gay ballot initiatives in 2004,
but neither did he stand up in a vocal
way – I mean, he claims to have, but
none of us were in that room. He didn’t
stop it.
So, I don’t have a lot of faith. I do
think it’s very interesting that there are
more and more Republicans who are
coming out in favor of gay marriage,
but they tend to be Republicans who are
not, you know, deeply invested in this
Tea Party-Republican uprising that we’re
seeing right now. Those folks tend to be
– the politicians, at least – pretty vigorously anti-gay.
Let’s talk about the Democrats for a
moment. In October 2009, you wrote,
“Indeed, when it comes to full LGBT
equality, President Obama is more
symbol than substance, a lot of talk
and not much action.”
That was two years ago, and since
that time, the President has gotten
some things done. The Administration
isn’t defending the Defense of Marriage Act anymore. They’ve overturned
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy
barring gay Americans from serving
openly in the military. How do you see
the relationship between the gay rights
movement and the President today?
My views on the President are constantly in flux, and that’s probably to his
advantage, when it comes to my support
for him.
I still do have a certain amount of
faith in him, and increasing faith in
him on LGBT issues. He has ordered
his Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court. He has successfully
navigated a very complicated repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and signed it into
law. He signed into law a comprehensive
hate crimes bill, the Byrd-Shepard Act,
and has instructed his Department of
Health and Human Services Secretary
to order that gay and lesbian couples
can have full visitation rights and medical access. He convened the first White
House conference on bullying, and has
certainly empowered his Education
Secretary, Arne Duncan, who has made
anti-bullying an important part of the
Administration’s education agenda.
I think the President has now—three
years into his presidency—shown himself to be someone who will spend political capital on our issue. He has achieved
more, in terms of legislation, in terms of
LGBT rights, than any other president
in the history of the United States. And
that’s just a fact.
He has not come out in favor of gay
marriage. I have very strong suspicions
that should he be reelected, that would
be one of the first things we’d see – he
will out himself, as it were, for gay marriage. There’s very little question in my
mind that that will happen eventually, and I think that that moment will
be more consistent with what he really
truly believes and has believed for a long
time – but right now, he can’t be true to
that belief because he is President of the
United States and we live in a country at
a particular historical moment that’s not
ready for that.
The “My views are still evolving” line.
But they’re not. His political courage is
evolving. His views are fairly clear, from
9
CITIZENFEATURE
beings is not negotiable; until then,
elected leaders of both parties will continue to treat us as nothing more than
a special-interest group to be manipulated or marginalized.” In other words,
LGBT folks may have to be patient
until they get what they’re entitled to,
but they are entitled to these things.
Tim McCarthy
my perspective, dating back some time.
He’s not opposed to gay marriage; he’s
on record saying that. He’s never told me
that individually to my face, of course,
but for a whole variety of reasons, there’s
no doubt in my mind where he stands in
his heart.
In one of your more recent essays, you
wrote, “I wish the LGBT community
would rethink its relationship with
the President.” On one hand, you want
him to be a stronger ally for the community and draw firm lines in the sand
around certain types of discrimination. At the same time, the movement
has to be bigger than him and push
him to move?
Yeah, it’s got to. And one of the reasons
I wrote that piece was because I wanted
to be one of those people pushing him.
But I also think we have to acknowledge
what he’s done. I don’t think it makes
any sense for us, in terms of building
political will, to throw him out with the
bathwater. At the end of the day, he has
gotten more done as president, signed
more pieces of legislation, and given
more orders on our behalf than any
president in American history. Part of
that’s an accident of timing. We are in
a moment where the arc of the moral
universe for us is bending pretty quickly,
or it seems to be, and he’s riding that
wave, in some ways. But he’s willing to
go there. He’s not resisting it. He’s doing
it piece by piece. I think that he’s being
smart and strategic in the way that he
has gone about this, given the fierce
political opposition he’s up against.
But at the end of the day, he is not our
leader. He is the President. And so, we
are always going to have a contentious
relationship with him, as we should. The
minute that we all start sleeping in the
Lincoln Bedroom with our same-sex
partners and thinking that everything is
good is the minute we lose our political edge, to say nothing of our moral
integrity.
We also have to say, “Thank you, Mr.
President, for being on our side, on the
right side of history.” But we shouldn’t
be bowing to him, saying, “Thank you,
thank you, thank you, thank you.” What
we should be saying is: “Good, you did
what was right, Mr. President. Thanks.
Next slide.”
There is a preoccupation with Obama
which comes from a number of places.
One is that he is President right now in
this historic moment. He is also the first
African-American President, so I think
that some people feel like he probably
“gets it” more than other leaders do,
because he grew up being discriminated
against. And he’s spoken powerfully
about that in the “It Gets Better” video
he recorded. He said, “I know what it
means to be an outsider.” And he does.
And because of that, because of his own
experience growing up as a bi-racial
kid with a funny name and big ears,
the things he talked about all the time
on the campaign trail, I think there’s a
widely held sense that he probably has
a somewhat deeper reservoir of empathy for other kinds of people that have
been discriminated against. I think that’s
probably true on some level.
Last year you wrote, “For our part,
queer folks need to demand that our
full acceptance as citizens and human
Yeah. We need to operate from a position of moral strength, one that says:
‘The fact that we live as second-class
citizens is your problem, not ours, and
you need to fix it.” If we make progress
towards that goal of realizing what
already should be true, what already
should be the case, then cool! Celebrate
that! But all the while, let’s understand
that we should already be there, though
we’re not. So, I’m not going to kiss anybody’s ass because we’re getting closer
to where we should already be.
Right.
And the President gets cranky about
the Left critiquing him or the gay rights
folks yelling at him, and this and that.
But he wanted to become President!
Mr. President, this is what you wanted
to do with your life, so suck it up. You’re
the most powerful man in the world.
And he should want it.
And he should want it. He sometimes
rhetorically says he does. He tells us,
“Yeah, you’re going to push me, and I’m
willing to be pushed. Keep pushing.”
You know, every time he speaks to us,
he says that. And I think, “Okay, fine,
we will. Don’t worry about that.” But I
think it’s really important for us to not
get so caught up in the political game
that we end up bargaining away our
humanity by piecemealing everything.
At the end of the day, you know, I’m
going to fight for marriage equality. But
I’m already married. The fact that they
don’t recognize that at the federal level
is not my problem.
Yes.
It’s really not my problem. I mean,
practically speaking, it is my problem.
Of course it is. In a real, experiential
way, of course it’s my problem. I am a
second-class citizen, but not because I
think of myself—or any of us—this way.
That reality has been created by someone else, by a system that continues to
discriminate against us. But I think that
that’s where our power comes; the moral
power comes in the political struggle for
people who can see the big picture. You
know, James Baldwin talked about this
all the time. He talked about the fact that
you need to figure out how to love the
white man, even though you sometimes
hate him.
At the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to force others into recognition...
they aren’t going to realize this on their
own.
And you’ll be destroyed if you don’t.
And we’ll be destroyed if we don’t.
“Financial aid,” continued from page 4
“If the goal of financial aid is to
bring people to HKS so we can have
a more robust learning community, I
think they’re doing that well,” he said.
“It must be an incredibly difficult job.
I have seen very little here to say that
I am personally more deserving than
anyone else.”
One student who asked not to be
identified for this article told The Citizen that because he’s borrowing the full
cost of his degree, his future employment options are limited. He wonders
whether the lack of need-based aid is in
fact restricting the diversity of the student body in a different way.
“We talk about diversity and how
important it is, but socio-economically I’m not sure it’s that diverse,” he
said. “We’re discussing the effectiveness of welfare in class, but how many
of us come from families that have ever
received a welfare check?”
Streletz cautioned against borrowing
the full cost of an HKS degree, suggesting that there are many external
resources available to students who do
not receive funds from the school. She
added that student financial services
also offers a variety of programming to
help students with budgeting, tax preparation, and paying off their loans after
graduation.
“Yes, we disburse funds and manage
aid, but more than that we are here for
counseling,” added Streletz. “It’s about
making sure that every student here
understands what commitment they’re
making, and being comfortable with
that.”
NE W S 1 –7 | FE AT URE 8 –9 | OP I NI ONS 10 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3 –15
10
CITIZENOPINION
Celebrating our past, envisioning our future
Dean Ellwood shares his thoughts on HKS at 75
David T. Ellwood, Dean and Scott M.
Black Professor of Political Economy
Nearly three-quarters of a century ago,
18 students and a handful of faculty
began an experiment that provided professional training for public servants at a
time when no such program yet existed.
The notion was borne of the then nearly
radical idea that those dedicated to serving the public good warranted the same
level of professional training as those
serving in medicine, business, or law.
What began as the Graduate School
of Public Administration launched a
new vision of public service at Harvard
and around the world. The rise of this
once small school has been remarkable,
reflected in the global contributions of
our 46,000 alumni, the impact of our
research, and the dedication and caliber
of our students.
Yet ironically perhaps, as we recognize our 75th anniversary, the challenges
of public leadership seem particularly
acute. We have seen a courageous push
for greater self-governance by citizens of
many countries during the Arab Spring.
Yet in nations across the globe, our
capacity and will to tackle our hardest
challenges, from economic recovery and
growth to climate change, seems very
much in doubt. And so it has never been
a more important time for all of us connected with this school to intensify the
bold commitment to exceptional public
service that inspired our beginning and
has guided generations. We must accel-
erate and deepen our impact, building
on our enduring desire to learn, innovate, and improve.
As we face the challenge and responsibility of providing extraordinary public
leadership, I envision four broad strategic directions for the school.
Reaching the very best leaders
The single most powerful tool for
attracting superb students and supporting their ability to serve is reducing the
cost of a Kennedy School education. In
the past seven years we have doubled
our annual student financial aid from
$11 million to $22 million even in the
face of financial turmoil. We must continue this effort and find additional ways
to attract the very best students from
across the globe.
Equipping our students to drive positive change
Public leaders today must be champions
of new ideas, capable of working across
sectors and geography. They must be
technologically savvy and effective managers in the complex political and economic arenas. For 75 years, the Kennedy
School has been the standard for public
policy education. While we believe our
curriculum provides exceptional preparation, it must evolve with transformations in information technology, the
shifting nature of public problems, and
emerging research as to how students
learn in the classroom and beyond.
We are committed to innovative and
engaging pedagogy and methods. These
include a greater emphasis on fieldbased, experiential learning, and over
the long term, the creation of “incubators” and “accelerators” to help support
and advance the most promising ideas,
from technological innovation to social
entrepreneurship.
Generating powerful ideas that
address our most pressing problems
The Kennedy School has long been a
source of new ideas that help shape
public policy. From the creation of community policing in the 1980s to nuclear
threat reduction and welfare reform in
the 1990s to energy and economic policy
today, HKS faculty have contributed
essential ideas that produce viable solutions. The school can and must continue
to provide an environment that supports
such efforts.
In addition to our ongoing intellectual work, we will be emphasizing three
broad themes to help shape the focus of
scholarship at the Kennedy School and
offer talented minds the opportunity to
make a meaningful difference on the
ground. These include: Making Democracy Work; Achieving Shared, Sustainable Prosperity; and Understanding and
Harnessing the Global Forces That Are
Reshaping Our World.
Graduate School of Public Administration faculty members and
students on the Littauer Center steps in 1946. Photo Courtesy of
Chester Holbrook.
Creating a campus that amplifies our
mission
The Kennedy School is reexamining its
campus to ensure that our physical and
technological infrastructure is capable of
supporting the transformed curriculum,
experiential learning, innovative pedagogy, and greater engagement across
Harvard that we envision. In this way,
we hope to better enable and amplify the
aspirations of our students and faculty.
The first step in this process is a campus
master plan that will likely reflect a longterm horizon of fifteen to twenty-five
years as well as a capital plan with a fiveyear horizon. We are still in the formative phase of many of these initiatives,
and I look forward to sharing more news
with you in the coming year.
It is an extraordinary privilege and a
great pleasure to serve as Dean of the
Kennedy School. I am truly inspired by
the wonderful combination of idealism,
intelligence, and capability exhibited by
each member of the HKS community. I
look forward to working with all of you
to meet the challenges and rise to the
many opportunities ahead for the next
generation and continue with you the
Kennedy School’s long-held tradition of
public leadership.
The Littauer Building under construction in 1977. Photo Courtesy
of Daisy Agee.
11
CITIZENOPINION
Happy
Fighting Corruption in India
75th HKS! A movement for change collides with principles of democracy
Alexi White, Opinions Editor, MPP ‘13
Great Moments in HKS History
1936 – Lucius N. Littauer, a graduate
of Harvard College, gives $2 million to
found the Harvard Graduate School of
Public Administration.
1988 – A. Alfred Taubman gives $15
million to fund the Taubman Center for
State and Local Government.
Not So Great Moments In HKS History
1914 – Lucius Littauer convicted of
smuggling and sentenced to six months
in jail.
2002 – A. Alfred Taubman convicted
of anti-trust violations and spends ten
months in jail.
Sujoyini Mandal, Opinions Columnist,
MPP ‘13
For the very first time, India has witnessed an outburst of citizen protests
chiefly via social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Anti corruption campaigns led by the hunger strike of social
activist Anna Hazare have captured the
Indian imagination within and outside the nation’s borders in the past few
months. Riding on a popularity surge,
‘Anna’ seeks the triumph of people
power and to override Indian democratic institutions.
Days into his hunger strike, this hitherto unknown social activist became an
overnight media sensation. His charm
offensive is similar to that of Gandhi,
who successfully used non-violence as
an agent for peaceful reform during the
heady years of the Indian independence
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movement. Half a
century later, Anna
wants to replicate
the same principle.
Not everyone, however, buys into his
philosophy.
As Suhit Sen
of The Guardian
righty points out,
Anna’s appeal is
restricted to the
middle classes and
capitalist entrepreneurs—hardly
a recipe for an
inclusive political
reform movement.
Secondly, while
his means may be Gandhian, Anna
Hazare’s demands are certainly not.
Contrary to Gandhi’s ideas about the
decentralization of power, as social commentator Arundhuti Roy explains, the
Jana Lokpal Bill (or the citizen ombudsman bill) is, contrary to popular belief,
an anti-corruption law in which a
chosen set of representatives, headed by
Anna, will “administer a giant bureaucracy … with the power to police everyone from the Prime Minister … to the
lowest level of government.”
The controversial law would give
Anna powers of investigations, prosecution and surveillance. In essence, it
serves to create an independent administration, a watchdog over every government component, including the judiciary. Two oligarchies instead of one.
The secondary consequences of Anna’s
hunger strike are of no less consequence.
Taking advantage of ‘brand Anna’ and
the resultant mobilization of the middle
and upper classes that are the primary
supporters of the movement, political
parties have jumped on the bandwagon.
LK Advani from the opposing Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) has decided to go on
a “rath yatra” to support Anna, while
the Gujarat Chief Minister has initiated a similar hunger strike to join the
mass anti-corruption voice against the
ruling Congress Party. While free riding
Anna Hazare on his third day of fasting – April 7, 2011.
to gain airtime and political mileage
is nothing new in Indian politics, this
event is particularly significant in the
amount of international attention and
press it has garnered.
With the Indian government ceding
to Anna’s initial demands to initiate the
process of creating the bill, the role of
the judiciary and the justice system are
now in question. Is the Anna movement
constitutional, such that the judiciary would be acting against the Indian
people if they struck it down?
If the judicial review process does
strike down the bill, the consequences
would be far reaching for the Indian
constitutional democracy. Pro-democracy activists will likely fight for free
speech and liberty, claiming that the
process is a dangerous liability to
democracy relying on outmoded concepts of human rights that disenfranchise common citizens. Constitutionalists, on the other hand are expected to
favor the powers that be and to point to
the system of checks and balances built
into the Indian democratic institution.
The answer will be played out in the
next few months as India debates who
should be framing the bill. For now, the
largest democracy in the world continues to look for innovative ways to fight
endemic corruption.
12
CITIZENOPINION
Growing Pains
Students critique President Obama’s
jobs bill and offer an alternative
President Obama addresses Congress – September 8, 2011.
Andrew Kurtzman, MPP ’12 and
Bryana Tucci, MPP ‘13
In an honest discussion of policy to promote economic growth, Obama’s jobs
plan cannot be regarded as a feasible
solution. It was rebuffed by no fewer
than six Senate Democrats on the day
following its introduction and for good
reason, as we will discuss. However, it
did allow the President to deliver several
extra speeches, two of which (conveniently) coincided with GOP debates. We will begin by outlining three
primary objections to the President’s
proposal, followed by three of our own
suggestions. First, “you don’t raise taxes in a recession,” Obama said in August 2009. It
was for this reason that John F. Kennedy
signed the largest tax cut (as a percentage of GDP) in modern history during a
recessionary period in the 1960s.
And yet, Obama’s bill proposes to
raise taxes on the “rich,” most of whom
are actually small businesses filing taxes
as individuals. Other groups that would
pay more include air travelers, federal workers, military retirees, wealthier Medicare beneficiaries, and people
taking out new mortgages.
Second, the bill centers on yet another
stimulus proposal to support “shovel
ready” jobs. But governments have a
poor track record
picking winners.
Ask the Japanese.
Ask Solyndra.
While spending
millions on impractical solar investments, the government (via the EPA)
is over-regulating
proven and potential viable technologies, such as natural
gas and shale oil,
respectively. Each
could be produced
domestically, employing thousands.
Third, the bill introduces costly
new employment regulations. A littleknown provision allows individuals to
sue a prospective employer if they are
discriminated against for being unemployed. Essentially, this allows any job
seeker to sue a business that rejects his
application.
Our alternative to Obama’s jobs bill
has three primary components. First, we must restore faith in dollardenominated assets. This means curtailing spending growth. Non-defense
discretionary spending has increased by
24 percent since President Obama took
office, and the Democrat-controlled
Senate has not passed a formal budget
resolution in three years. Commercial
banks sit on trillions of dollars in liquid
capital assets, which they would gladly
invest if not for the uncertainty in the
legislative and fiscal environment.
Second, fix the tax system and keep
rates low. Tax increases now will only
mask exponential growth in entitlement
spending for a few more years, at which
time the rate of growth in entitlement
spending will be much faster and all the
more difficult to abate. Real job growth will come when the
tax system is fundamentally re-worked,
rather than re-weighted. The current tax
system has been heavily lobbied to favor
large corporations over smaller start-
ups through special deductions – the
complexity of which sucks billions in
tax-administration costs from the economy every year. This is compounded
by Obama’s health care plan, which
requires small businesses to provide
expensive and unnecessary full-coverage plans for all employees. Remove the
deductions, reduce and flatten rates, and
make everyone happy.
Third, address structural unemployment. The present administration uses
a poorly construed version of Keynesianism to justify wasteful government
spending. But the problem is far more
about structure than cycle. The US economy has shifted toward new areas of
comparative advantage—areas for which
employment often requires significant
retraining and realignment of skills. As
Speaker Gingrich argues, unemployment benefits must be contingent upon
participation in training programs, preferably privately run.
This will require the government to
return to its proper role: a bulwark for a
system in which private capital competes to create wealth and opportunities
for gainful employment.
Andrew Kurtzman is Chair of the HKS
Republican Caucus. Bryana Tucci is a
member of the HKS Republican Caucus
Executive Board.
THECITIZEN
Got an opinion?
Share it!
Submit an op-ed or
a letter to the editor
The Citizen accepts unsolicited
opinion pieces from students, staff,
faculty and alumni. Op-eds should be
600-700 words. Letters should be no
more than 350 words.
Email:
[email protected]
to submit or to find out more.
Opinions in
the Forum
The Citizen solicited feedback
from students in the forum on the
following question:
What’s your reaction to the Massachusetts House passing a bill licensing
casino gambling?
“I see no problem. There will be
regulations to minimize the negative
effects.”
Manuela C. Faria
“There are pros and cons. It’s a huge
source of revenue, but must be
regulated.”
Hermi Lokko
“I’m against it. The difference
between the image of a casino and
real life is stark. Most people are
there because they feel like they
need to win money, not because
they’re having fun.”
Jose Soegaard
“I’m against. Slot parlors attract
people who can least afford it.”
Paul Thomas
“On the face of it, having more
casinos sounds like an okay idea. It
does bring in revenue for the state.”
Melissa Galvez
“I’m divided. I’ve seen personally
the devastating effects gambling can
have on people’s lives. But there’s
something to be said for free will.”
Matt Mabe
“Executed,” continued from page 3
ward unless there was ‘no doubt’ about
guilt, a vow that has now been rendered
meaningless… Allowing a man to be
sent to death under an enormous cloud
of doubt about his guilt is an outrageous
affront to justice.”
Ratz expects to see renewed interest
in anti-death penalty activism among
Cambridge’s student community, and
hopes that Davis’s death will galvanize
change elsewhere in the nation. “The
tragedy of his case, I hope, will serve as a
wake-up call to policymakers to abolish
the death penalty once and for all.”
13
CITIZENCULTURE
PAEasy
Christopher Gustafson, Humor
Columnist, MPP ‘12
Folks, have you ever seen a commercial where a random person performs a
feat of learned skill, only to then say that
his/her only qualification to perform
said feat of learned skill was that (s)he
“stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last
night”?
Needless to say, I have always assumed
that that person worked for McKinsey. So, I was in the bath one day, and
I said to myself, “C-Gus, if the PAE is
a consulting project, and consultants
give unqualified, simplistic answers to
difficult questions, why can’t I just do
the same with my PAE? For that matter,
why can’t I perform a public service
and do this for everyone’s PAE topic?”
I moseyed around OCA’s PAE topic
database, put my McKinsey hat on and
solved the world’s problems in one sentence of less. Here are some of the highlights:
Topic: How to eradicate pesticides in
Central American coffee farmland.
Stage CIA orchestrated coup against the
leftist pesticide regime and impose a
rightwing pesticide dictatorship that will
do the U.S bidding in the coffee field.
Topic: How to reduce inequalities of
service at Boston Regional Hospital.
Stop giving people good hospital service
so that everyone will have equally bad
Romneycare.
Topic: Find a sustainable funding
structure for the U.S National Park
Service.
Eliminate national parks in red states
and pillage resources. No one will
notice or care, except the tree huggers.
Further PAE topic: How to eradicate tree
huggers.
Topic: Appropriate performance metrics to measure teacher quality.
1. Must have blind loyalty to Michelle
Rhee.
2. Must hate making a livable wage
and collective bargaining.
3. Must be planning to apply to
Kennedy School within next two
years.
Topic: Effective performance manage-
ment for the Massachusetts Housing
Authority.
Huge salary for director + Teamsters +
Cost Overruns + one unexplained crew
death= Effective
Topic: Reduce Human Trafficking.
Carpool! (The actual topic did not
lend itself to humor, so I made a slight
modification.)
Topic: How to improve international
sports security.
Make sure teams in volatile countries
don’t lose! How do you stop World War
III? Make North Korea the next World
Cup Champ.
Topic: How to improve Cambridge
Police performance.
Don’t arrest prominent AfricanAmerican Professors at Harvard.
Topic: Iran/US Nuclear Negotiations.
Pray!!!
Topic: Creating a user-friendly web
portal to find health care specialists in
the San Francisco/San Jose metropolitan area.
I’m stumped on this one, too bad there’s
no company based in the San Francisco/
San Jose metropolitan area that
specializes in internet searches.
Topic: Initial Planning for Regime
Change in Mozambique.
Form party planning committee tasked
with finding adequate supplies of
balloons and party hats.
So remember, when the Cristobel
P. Gustafson Center for Consulting
Excellence is dedicated in the Taubman
building, know that it was at this
moment where a visionary was born.
“Microfinance,” continued from page 5
gratitude that the borrowers feel towards
Akhuwat is genuine, unforced, and has
been translated into voluntary contributions by clients who have fared well due
to these loans. This system has been formalized, where voluntary contributions
taken from borrowers now cover sixty
percent of the operating costs. There is
no compulsion in these contributions,
and those who give are not treated any
differently from those who don’t. The
other end of this brotherhood lies with
civil society – Akhuwat has relied so far
entirely on donations by civil society to
distribute these loans, with no funding from ‘official’ sources or interna-
NBA League Lockout
Alex Remington, Sports Writer, MPP
‘13
Kevin Durant is making a movie. Deron
Williams is going to play in Turkey. The
D-League, prohibited from employing
NBAers during a lockout, is planning
for a season with a much smaller talent
pool. Training camp, which was supposed to start yesterday, was indefinitely
postponed. All over the league, players
are chewing their fingernails, mulling
over contract offers with foreign leagues,
and trying — for the first time in their
adult lives — to ponder what they can
do with their lives if not playing professional basketball.
This is the fourth lockout in league
history, but during the first two the
league was able to resolve the dispute
without missing any games, and during
the third, in 1998-99, the league was
able to return in time to play a 50-game
regular season. There has been only
one occasion in American pro sports in
which an entire season was canceled by
a labor dispute, when the NHL canceled
the 2004-05 season.
If that happens, few teams will be hurt
more than the Boston Celtics. They’re
one of the oldest teams in basketball.
Last year, there were only 24 players age
33 or older who logged 1000 minutes in
the league. Exactly one-eighth of that
total is the Celtics’ Big Three: Ray Allen,
Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. (The
Spurs and Raptors are the other two
tional organizations. The credit pool for
operations has been furnished through
donations from individuals, clients and
well-wishers. This translates to little or
no capital costs which allows the organization to extend interest free loans. In
addition, senior staff members work as
volunteers or are paid salaries far below
market rates. But is this source of funding sustainable? Dr. Amjad Saqib, the
Executive Director of Akhuwat, is aware
of the concerns raised by many regarding the sustainability and scalability of
an organization working on donations,
voluntary contributions and voluntary efforts. “We do not view Akhuwat
as a short term experiment nor are we
teams with three such players, but neither stands to lose quite as much ground
as the Celtics. The Raptors are one of the
worst teams in the league, so the layoff
can’t hurt them, while the Spurs lost in
the first round of the playoffs last year
and faced much-reduced expectations
for 2011-12.)
If you’ll pardon my quoting the Lemonheads, it’s a shame about Ray Allen:
he just set the all-time three point
record last year, but now he won’t get
any chance to widen his lead any time
soon. And Garnett and Allen are already
pushing the upper echelon of historical
playing time: they are already 13th and
20th, respectively, on the all-time NBA
minutes played list. Meanwhile, backup
Celtic center Shaquille O’Neal, who
retired in June, is 17th on the list.
Blame the owners or the revenue
structure if you like – no one’ is blameless but everyone’ is hurting. As Maury
Brown of The Biz of Basketball writes,
“According to the most recent Forbes
valuations, the league has 17 clubs
shown as running at an operating loss.”
But there might be at least one silver
lining for Kevin Durant, and for basketball fans. It will give Durant the time
to work on making a movie better than
Shaquille O’Neal’s awful star vehicles,
“Steel” and “Kazaam.” (While he’s at it,
maybe Durant could remake “Space
Jam”… or maybe that’s the one movie in
Hollywood that no one will reboot.)
interested in gaining some sort of permanence through profit alone. Instead
through a spirit of volunteerism, the
principle of low operational cost and
dependence on generosity of the community, Akhuwat has not only sustained
itself but is also expanding and being
replicated.”
With a recovery rate of 99.85%, Akhuwat is a challenge to conventional MFIs,
to exorbitant interest rates, and traditional usurious practices towards the
poor. Akhuwat, in Malcolm Harper’s
words “takes us back to the early days
of innocence, when poverty alleviation
was what microfinance was for, and this
reminder is healthy, and necessary.”
14
CITIZENCULTURE
From left to right: Back row: Federico Cuadra del Carmen, Danny Newman, Raul Duran Galicia, Ryan Johnson (HGC), Lucas Shuler, Bryce McKibben, Ben Goldsmith, Azum Ali (HGC), Adam Segal Middle row:
Natalie Fabe, Nima Tshering, Ryo Watanabe, Laila Ashtan, Claire Szabo, Salmon Hossein, Ahmed Moor, Patrick Boateng, Kevin Chen, Diane Chang, Kanoko Kamata, Maribeth Black, Rohit Malhotra Front row:
Max Two, Shrihari Prabhu, Cristina Garmendia, Sherry Hakimi, Georgeta Dragoiu, Quinnie Lin, Divya Dhar (HGC), Victoria Tan, Zhen Liu, Elsa Sze Not pictured: Jaime Loucky, Umar Shavurov, Jennifer Tutak,
Chad Troutwine (HGC)
Get to Know Your KSSG
Call for Nominations for KSSG Committees!
The KSSG Vice Presidents are in the process of forming their committees. Nominations are
being accepted until Friday, October 7.
We encourage you to join a KSSG committee and make a difference at HKS. We all share
common concerns and goals; we need your input, creativity and cooperation in shaping the
HKS student experience.
Committee membership is year-long. Committee members are not required to attend KSSG
meetings and are non-voting positions within KSSG (however, they are voting positions within
the committee).
Please contact the Vice President of the committee(s) you are interested in by Friday, October 7.
If you have any questions about committee roles and responsibilities, please contact the
respective committee’s Vice President. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Committee Vice Presidents
Academic Affairs Committee
VP: Danny Newman
[email protected]
Communications Committee
VP: Diane Chang
Email: [email protected]
Finance Committee
VP: Kevin Chen
[email protected]
Internal Affairs Committee
VP: Adam Segal
[email protected]
International Student Affairs Committee
VP: Max Teo
[email protected]
Professional Development Committee
VP: Natalie Fabe
[email protected]
Student Activities Committee
VP: Rohit Malhotra
[email protected]
Student Affairs Committee
VP: Ahmed Moor
[email protected]
The KSSG Executive Team: Back row: Natalie Fabe (VP, Professional Development), Kevin Chen (VP, Finance), Rohit Malhotra (VP, Student
Activities), Danny Newman (VP, Academic Affairs), Diane Chang (VP, Communications) Front row: Max Teo (VP, International Student Affairs),
Sherry Hakimi (President), Ahmed Moor (VP, Student Affairs), Georgeta Dragoiu (Executive Vice President) Not pictured: Adam Segal (VP,
Internal Affairs)
NE W S 1 –7 | FE ATURE 8 –9 | OP I NI ONS 10 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3 –15
15
CITIZENCULTURE
The KSSG body listens intently as VP of Academic Affairs, Danny Newman, presents the academic affairs agenda.
The MPA-ID Class Representatives: Back row: Nima Tshering (MPA-ID’12), Zhen Liu (MPA-ID’12) Front row: Raul Duran
Galicia (MPA-ID’13), Srihari Prabhu (MPA-ID’13)
The MC-MPA Class Representatives: Back row: Umar Shavurov, Kanoko Kamata, Lucas Shuler Front row: Claire
Szabo, Laila Ashtan, Ryo Watanabe
The MPP Class Representatives: Back row: Elsa Sze (MPP’13), Bryce McKibben (MPP’13), Salmon Hossein (MPP’13), Patrick Boateng
(MPP’13), Maribeth Black (MPP’12) Front row: Cristina Garmendia (MPP’13), Victoria Tan (MPP’13), Quinnie Lin (MPP’12)
Not pictured: Jaime Loucky (MPP’12)
The MPA Class Representatives: Ben Goldsmith (MPA’13) and Federico Cuadro del Carmen (MPA’13)
Not pictured: Jennifer Tutak (MPA’12)
NE W S 1 –7 | FE AT URE 8–9 | OP I NI ONS 10 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3 –15
16
Artwork by Irene Shih, Editor-in-Chief, MPP ’13.

October 4, 2011

Transcription

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