Kennedy School Students Elect New Student Government Amid Historic Budget Deficit

After the eleventh-hour reveal that last year’s Harvard Kennedy School Student Government ran up a historic $46,000 budget deficit, HKS students elected a new slate of representatives Tuesday night.

Last year’s executive vice president, Zubair Merchant, was elected to serve as KSSG’s next president, beating out leading challenger Lily Kang by nearly 200 votes, according to a document obtained by The Crimson. Allan E. Cameron V — who ran on a joint ticket with Kang — will take over Merchant’s previous position as executive vice president.

Their election comes just a day after Cameron slammed Merchant over his claims of unfamiliarity with KSSG’s budget issues in a statement to The Crimson.

“I’m taken aback that the Executive Vice President, the second-most senior figure in KSSG, would not know about the finances of KSSG,” Cameron wrote at the time.

Twelve other students were elected to positions on the executive board, including Ashish Tiwari, who ran unopposed to be the vice president of finance and will oversee the student government’s budget for the 2024-25 academic year.

The election saw more than 70 percent of students cast a ballot in the presidential election, a marginal increase in voter turnout from the roughly 64 percent of the student body who voted for a KSSG presidential candidate in 2023.

In an interview with The Crimson, Cameron acknowledged he had been “looking forward to running” with Kang, but said that he found Merchant to be “very gracious” when the two congratulated each other shortly after the election results were released.

“I think both platforms are along the same lines in terms of trying to achieve the ability of solidarity at HKS, as well as unification across the cohorts,” he said.

Merchant said the two are “both looking forward to working together” and that he was “not worried” about any personal conflicts with Cameron affecting KSSG’s operation, specifically concerning next year’s budget.

“Obviously the budget’s gonna be a really big priority,” Merchant said. “Making sure that it’s clear, it’s transparent, that it’s serving the needs of students.”

“Alan and I are on the same team 100 percent,” he added.

In the fallout of the budget deficit — only the second in the last two decades — the newly-elected KSSG will be charged with more closely managing the group’s finances, including complying with the Kennedy School’s request that the group establish a $10,000 emergency reserve fund.

Merchant said that while he has yet to discuss the details of this year’s budget with the rest of the newly-elected KSSG, he hoped to focus on building a more transparent relationship with the Kennedy School’s Office for Student Services — which handles the disbursement of funds that KSSG approves.

In documents reviewed by The Crimson, last year’s KSSG lamented that the Kennedy School “just doesn’t like showing KSSG numbers” and discussed how to “move the admin to be more transparent about disbursements.”

“Working closer with the Office of Student Services to get more regular updates on disbursements is going to be really important,” Merchant said.

Similarly, Cameron and Merchant said they aim to better communicate with the student body on how KSSG spends its funds, which come from an annual $220 student activity fee that every Kennedy School student pays.

“I think transparency is of the utmost importance,” Cameron said. “I do hold senior leadership accountable now that I’m EVP.”

Tiwari, the finance vice president, said he is waiting to confer with other newly-elected KSSG members before finalizing any plans for the group’s budget, but said he has already spoken with members of the OSS and remains optimistic about the future of their collaboration.

“If the intention is good, then I think results will come in,” he said.

In addition to improving the management of KSSG’s finances, Merchant wrote in a statement that he hoped to secure term-time work authorizations for international students to receive pay from off-campus jobs and launch a pre-orientation program for students from abroad.

Merchant said that he was excited to develop a constructive relationship with new HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein, who assumed the school’s top post on July 1 after the tumultuous term of his predecessor, Douglas W. Elmendorf.

“It’s really important that we make sure it's collaborative,” Merchant said. “This is the window right now to do that.”

—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.