Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Votes In Favor of Faculty Senate Planning Body

The Harvard Kennedy School’s faculty overwhelmingly voted to in support of a University-wide faculty senate planning body, according to a Wednesday email obtained by The Crimson.

Academic Dean for Faculty Development Erica Chenoweth wrote in the email that 39 faculty members — 67 percent of the voting body — voted in favor of the resolution, while 19 faculty members voted against.

The decision makes the Kennedy School the sixth faculty division to support the creation of a faculty senate body, following the School of Public Health, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Design, Divinity School, and Graduate School of Education.

The Kennedy School’s decisive vote — conducted electronically in November — adds more weight to the University-wide senate proposal, which was introduced in April by 18 Harvard professors to address growing rifts between faculty and the University’s top administration.

The Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School are the only three schools that have yet to vote in favor of establishing a faculty senate planning body.

All full-time faculty members at HKS — including assistant professors, associate professors, and senior lecturers — were eligible to vote on the resolution. Though more than 150 HKS affiliates were eligible to vote, only 58 casted a ballot — a 38 percent turnout.

Per the resolution, the faculties of HKS and six other graduate schools would each send three representatives to the University Senate Planning Body. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences would send 12 representatives and the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Dental School would collectively send four representatives.

The Kennedy School will accept nominations for delegates until Dec. 10, after which the representatives will be selected via an election process, according to the email.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.