Students at HKS Petition for More International Speakers

More than 120 people have signed a petition urging the dean of the Kennedy School to invite a wider array of international speakers and moderators to campus.

The petition, organized by several international students and widely circulated around the school, specifically cites the choice of Ohio Governor John Kasich as the school’s 2018 commencement speaker as “reflective of this trend.” The students requested that HKS replace Kasich as the main addressee or add another speaker to the commencement program who better represents the international student body.

Yusaku Kawashima, a master in public administration degree student originally from Japan who helped organize the petition, said the organizers did not have a partisan perspective on Kasich, but argued that choosing Kasich demonstrated the school’s lack of awareness of global voices.

“I totally respect [Kasich], and I’m not saying his political perspective is right or wrong, but the administration should have paid more attention to how students would feel about him as the commencement speaker,” Kawashima said.

“I expect that Governor Kasich will deliver a commencement address that will be meaningful to many, many of our students,” Dean of the Kennedy School Douglas W. Elmendorf said in response to the petition. “I understand that different speakers in different years seem particularly meaningful to some students or others, but I think our speakers have over time been very interesting to all of the students and parents that have been graduating and I think that will be true again this year.”

The petition also included an analysis of past speakers from recent weeks at the Kennedy School’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Out of 14 speakers and moderators hosted by the Institute of Politics, the petition notes that only one speaker was not from the United States.

“While HKS states that it convenes an intellectual exchange among global leaders at the Forum, the experience is not aligned with the copy,” the petition reads.

International students from more than 100 countries represent 47 percent of the HKS student body, according to Kennedy School spokesperson Doug Gavel.

Elmendorf said he was working on inviting more international speakers to the Kennedy School by collaborating with the individual research centers that invite speakers to campus.

“A fair number of [speakers] are from outside of the United States, but I think the students are right to want to have more speakers from outside the United States and I hope we can accomplish that in the coming years,” Elmendorf said.

According to the petition, only one Kennedy School commencement speaker since 2009 has been from outside the “Global North”—a region that includes the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia.

Students involved with the petition met with Elmendorf Thursday to discuss their requests. Luna D. Kim, a second-year master in public policy student who helped organize the petition, said the dean was “adamant” about maintaining this year’s commencement program.

“He showed some understanding about where we were coming from, but I don't think he understood the gravity of our claim or concern about international students,” Kim said. “For me, it was highly disappointing, and I don't think he was willing to make any significant changes.”

Elmendorf said he would not change this year’s speaker, but said he would solicit student opinions for future years’ commencement speakers.

“I was very clear on Thursday that I want the students to participate in choosing future commencement speakers, and I was very direct that we will set up a mechanism in which the students through the student government can play that role in the future,” he said.

Aditya Todi, a first-year master in public policy student and the vice president of international student affairs in the HKS student government, said the school would benefit from including more of these voices at its events.

“For a school that prides itself on bringing a diverse set of opinions and point of views, if those points of view are restricted to what the Global North is and what those Western perspectives are… it is a huge disservice not just to the domestic student population here but also the international students that the school attracts,” Todi said.