April 7, 2014

THECITIZEN
V O L . 1 9 N O. 9 | A P R I L 7 , 2 0 1 4
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL
Harvard Gets Social The West Wing Was
The Best Thing
By Simon R. Bone
Last weekend the Harvard Kennedy
School in conjunction with the Harvard
Business School held the 15th annual
Social Enterprise Conference. It was a
weekend packed with new ideas, fun,
and inspiration, and was a fantastic
experience for all involved.
The Conference celled for reflection
and ambitious visioning - not only for
its delegates, but also for the Conference itself. This year they decided to
expand beyond traditional programming to offer its attendees a deeper and
more varied experience. SECON 2014
featured a diverse selection of session
formats, intended to activate both sides
of the brain and to satisfy all types of
learners.
By Tommy Tobin
Photo by Yanina Wolfe
Key note speakers included Cheryl
Dorsey, the President of Echoing Green
(a pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement), Premal Shah (the
brainchild behind the Kiva microfinance initiative), Leila Janah (the
Founder and CEO of Samasource) and
Jill Dumain (Director of Environmental
Strategy for Patagonia).
The Only Way Is Up!
By Simon R. Bone
“If knocked down, I will get back up,
every time. I am never out of the fight.”
Kennedy School Mid-Career Adam
La Reau’s One Summit organization
held their inaugural event “Climb for
Courage” on Saturday at Central Rock
Gym in Watertown. The One Summit
mission is to help children with cancer
build courage and self-confidence by
MATCHING them with specific Navy
SEAL mentors.
A Doctor at the Dana Farber Cancer
and Blood Disorder Center Said it was
“a masterful plan, elegantly executed.
Those guys were terrific.” The Boston
Police Department provided a full lights
and sirens escort for the children and
mentors all the way to the gym where
they tackled a variety of climbing obstacles teaching very specific life lessons
to include overcoming adversity under
the supervision of the special operation
military volunteers.
One parent said “having this opportunity to spend the day with Navy
SEALs had a wonderful impact on his
self esteem. He has a new perspective
on life to know how much his mentor
went through. He now has a new motto
in life “Never Give Up.” Another added
“I haven’t seen my child smile in 4
years.”
Find out more information on the
program at http://onesummit.org/
“The West Wing” is a show that led
many members of the HKS community to this place and helped to
define their public service trajectories. On Friday, March 28th the
IOP Forum hosted cast members
Bradley Whitford (“Josh Lyman”),
Janel Moloney (“Donna Moss”),
Richard Schiff (“Toby Ziegler”),
and Lawrence O’Donnell to talk
discuss the show and its influence.
The event was a multimedia marvel.
Moderator O’Donnell and Whitford
were physically in the Forum, Janel
Moloney skyped in from New York and
Schiff was on the phone from California. O’Donnell played several clips
from the show to illustrate some of the
key themes from the show’s seven seasons. For Marisa Dowling, MPP’ 16, the
clips showcased the show’s consistent
balance between “reality and what we
wish our government would do.”
Excellent writing was a hallmark of
the show. As writer and executive producer, O’Donnell feared that the show
may have been “too good” to be picked
up. In fact, the script was rejected at
first by the network. Schiff highlighted
the fact that the writing made “good
people dramatic. It’s easy to make bad
people dramatic as they create conflict
simply by being alive.” The writing team
would often craft storylines that pitted
the President against his better angels
and demonstrate “the difficulty of telling truth under a microscope.”
Each actor had stories to contribute
on the show’s writing. Schiff revealed
that his character almost went to the
comedic actor Eugene Levy, famous for
his role in American Pie. That casting
choice could have taken the dramatic
and serious Toby Zeigler in a far different direction. The writing also took
Janel Moloney from a bit part in the
pilot to a full role throughout the series.
O’Donnell highlighted the fact that
Moloney is used as the case example for
actors who have a small pilot role who
hope to land in the series. She told the
crowd that she was concerned that she’d
be cut from the cast. That was until an
executive producer told her, “Kid, you’re
going to be here ‘til the curtain comes
down.” After the talk, HKS student
Dowling was convinced the “writing was
tailored to each of the actors, capturing
their off-camera personality on-stage.”
The show both reflected and influenced real-world events. The writers
would create storylines out of news stories, like the death penalty. O’Donnell
claimed that sometimes the writers
would need to educate the audience
about certain issues such as the debt
ceiling in order to create the show’s
drama and tension. When the West
Wing would mention certain issues, it
was not uncommon for the cast to get
letters from political leaders. O’Donnell
told of a writing a storyline touching on
a base closure in upstate New York, after
which he received a letter from thenContinued on page 2
SEX, LOVE AND AID
WHAT DID HKS GET UP TO
OVER SPRING BREAK?
PHOTOS FROM THE
HKS TALENT SHOW
GUNS FOR ALL?
PAGE 3
PAGE 6–7
PAGE 8
PAGE 9
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2
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
Editor-in-Chief:
Simon R. Bone
THECITIZEN
2013-2014 Masthead
Editor-in-Chief
Simon R. Bone, MC-MPA ‘14
Opinions Editor
Wei Ran, MPAM’14,
Culture Editor
Ted Zagraniski, MC-MPA ‘14
Staff Writers
Doug Gavel (ext)
Chrissy Long, MPP ’14
Jeffrey R. Kushner,
MC-MPA ‘14
Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar
(ext)
Maria Syms, MC-MPA ‘14
Tommy Tobin, MPP’15
Ioannis Tsoutsias,
MC-MPA ‘14
Kerry Williams, MC-MPA ‘14
Layout & Design & Online
Janell Sims (ext)
CITIZENNEWS
US Ambassador to the United Nations
to Deliver Graduation Address at HKS
By Doug Gavel
CAMBRIDGE MA -- Samantha Power,
the United States Ambassador to the
United Nations (UN), will deliver the
Graduation Address to the Harvard
Kennedy School class of 2014 at 2 pm
May 28 at Harvard Kennedy School
(HKS), HKS Dean David T. Ellwood
announced today.
As the United States’ permanent
representative to the UN, Ambassador
Power works to advance US interests,
promote and defend universal values,
and address pressing global challenges
to international peace, security, and
prosperity. Prior to her UN appointment, she served as Special Assistant to
the President and Senior Director for
Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights
on the National Security Staff at the
White House.
Before joining the Obama Administration, Ambassador Power was the
Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice
of Global Leadership and Public Policy
at Harvard Kennedy School, where
she served as executive director of the
School’s Carr Center for Human Rights
Policy and taught courses on U.S. foreign policy, human rights, and UN
reform. Her impressive resume also
includes several years spent as an investigative journalist in some of the most
troubled corners of the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and
Zimbabwe. She is author of the PulitzerPrize winning book, “A Problem from
Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide.
She earned a B.A. from Yale University
and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
“Ambassador Power is a tremendously
accomplished and dedicated public
servant, whose passionate work in the
area of human rights, democracy and
international accountability has served
as an inspiration to many -- both here in
the US and across the world,” said Ellwood. “We are elated that she is returning to the Kennedy School to deliver the
Graduation Address for the HKS Class
of 2014.”
Challenges Facing
Transatlantic Diplomacy
By Simon R. Bone
British prime minister Harold Macmil-
lan was once asked what a leader most
feared he answered: “Events, dear boy,
events.” This was very much the topic
of Sir Peter Westmacott’s (UK Ambassador to the US) talk to HKS last week.
The speech covered a wide range of
topics from Libya to Iraq and recent
events in the Crimea. The ambassador
cautioned that in the light of the global
economy and with the last decade’s
military bill in the region of $6 trillion
that we need to ask serious questions for
any further intervention.
Sir Peter became British Ambassador
to the United States in January 2012.
This is his second posting in Washington, having previously served as the
British Embassy’s Counsellor for Political and Public Affairs in the mid-1990s.
Prior to his service as ambassador to
the United States, Peter served as the
British Ambassador to France—from
2007 to 2011—and as Ambassador to
Turkey starting in 2002. Peter’s fortyyear career in the British Diplomatic
Service has included postings in Tehran
and Brussels, time as the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office’s Director for the
Americas, and a seat on the board of the
Foreign Office as Deputy Under Secretary. In addition, he served as Deputy
Private Secretary to His Royal Highness
The Prince of Wales from 1990 to 1993.
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
Journalists interested in covering
the address should contact the Kennedy School Communications Office at
(617) 495-1115.
West Wing
Continued from page 1
Senator Hillary Clinton to not close the
base. HKS even had a role to play in
“The West Wing,” as Schiff revealed that
the portrayal of his character was based
on David Gergen among other presidential advisors.
Perhaps the most lasting effect of
the show is its influence to lead people
into politics. Whitford told of running
into a young, harried, and overworked
staffer who told him that his character convinced him to go into political
work. The other actors shared similar
stories.
The West Wing, according to Dowling, was about “good people trying to
make hard choices in a chaotic environment.” That is exactly the sort of activity
we are being trained to do here at the
Kennedy School.
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
3
CITIZENOPINION
Response to article by Mr. Unny Sankar
By Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar
This article is a cross-Pacific-Ocean
response from Leonard Ariff Abdul
Shatar, the President, Malaysian Organization of Pharmaceutical Industries
(MOPI), to the article “Can the TPPA
Cripple Malaysia’s Healthcare System” by
Mr. Unny Sankar, who is currently a MidCareer MPA student and Mason Fellow
at Harvard Kennedy School.
I am writing in response to the article
published in The Citizen, the student
newspaper of the Harvard Kennedy
School entitled “Can the Trans-Pacific
Partnership Agreement Cripple Malaysia’s Healthcare System?” written by Mr
Unny Sankar.
Whilst I am fine with individuals presenting their views on subjects that they
may not be particularly familiar with,
this particular article made the rounds
globally due to the fact that Mr Sankar
was once a member of the Malaysian
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(TPPA) negotiating team for Malaysia.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Sankar’s personal opinion does not reflect the stance
of the Malaysian negotiating team due
to the fact that Mr. Sankar has taken
an extremely simplistic view on the
issues that have caused such an emotive response from not just NGOs but
also members of the public. I represent
the Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries (MOPI) in Malaysia,
which represents the majority of generic
drug manufacturers in Malaysia and
would like to present a factual rather
than emotive response to Mr. Sankar’s
article.
Mr. Sankar’s article claims that the
TPPA will not increase prices of generics and that the TPPA will increase the
number of branded drugs available in
Malaysia. This is a particularly disingenuous argument given that Malaysia has
one of the most open drug registration
systems in Asia. As long as a drug meets
the particularly stringent drug registration process in Malaysia, there are no
impediments to registration. This drug
registration system is equally applied to
both local and overseas manufacturers.
The unavailability of a particular drug in
Malaysia tends generally to be a commercial consideration by the manufacturer, given the small size of the Malaysian market, rather than caused by any
impediment that the TPPA seeks to
resolve.
On the issue on pricing, the Malaysian public is already paying a hefty
price for delayed entry of generics given
that whilst the so called ‘patent cliff ’ for
small molecule drugs has passed in the
US and in Europe, for a lot of these molecules, they are still protected by patents
in Malaysia. In some Oncology small
molecule drugs, we are seeing patents in
Malaysia surviving up to 9 years longer
than in Western economies. Whatever
the reason for this, it is the private and
public healthcare system in Malaysia
that bears the brunt of this mismatch
of patent expiries. I have personally sat
through presentations at a TPP Stakeholder Consultations where US Pharmaceutical pressure groups indicate
that the average patent protection they
are receiving is less than 13 years and as
such they require the TPPA to fix this. I
am not sure which economies they are
Sex, Love and Aid
By Kerry Williams
Kerry Williams is currently a candidate
for a Masters in Public Administration at
the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (she is both an Edward S. Mason
Fellow and a Harvard South African
Fellow).
Uganda’s punishing policies on gay
love and sex have become a hot intercontinental political issue. The passing
of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which
not only criminalizes Ugandan gays and
lesbians but also anyone who doesn’t
report them, has been met with concern
and even outrage. Where just love and
consensual adult sex means criminality
referring to but I assure Mr Sankar that
it certainly is not Malaysia where protection is for 20 years from lodging or 15
years from grant, whichever is longer.
Mr Sankar’s assertion that the TPPA
will have no impact on the price and
availability of generics is particularly
troubling. Even without the TPPA,
the generic drug industry in Malaysia is already reeling from Malaysia’s
delayed expiry of patents relative to our
neighbouring countries. For a country
attempting to develop a robust export
platform for our generic drugs, we are
already at a huge disadvantage. BOLAR
provisions that were intended to facilitate early introduction of generics upon
expiry of patents have also been severely
curtailed due to new regulatory requirements for registration. The TPPA does
not do anything to encourage the early
introduction of generics
Mr Sankar also seems to be taken in
by the argument that the TPPA only
applies to “new medicines”. The problem
revolves around the definition of “new”.
Even before the TPPA, we are already
seeing formulation tweaking, minor
amendments to dosage delivery, slight
changes in manufacturing processes and
isolation of known isomers all regarded
as “new” and therefore justifying extensions of patents. The TPPA will serve to
enshrine this practice of ever greening
patents into a commitment by Malaysia’s
Patent Office further delaying introduction of generic versions of essentially
the same drug. The article by Mr. Sankar
seems to acknowledge the benefits of
competition afforded by generics but at
the same time supports a diametrically
opposed view of supporting the practice
many wonder how a country can justify
imprisonment of a vulnerable minority that cannot protect itself through
the mechanisms of majoritarian and
popular politics. Although US views
on homosexuality may still be diverse
the days of denying gays and lesbians
freedom are far away. It was welcome
when Obama and Kerry came out and
said that the law is complicating the US
relationship with Uganda and that the
US would be reviewing its assistance
programs to Uganda. Similarly, Presi-
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
Opinions Editor:
Wei Ran
of ever greening patents as contained
in leaked drafts of Intellectual Property
Chapter of the TPPA.
The Ministry of Domestic Trade,
Cooperative and Consumerism in
Malaysia have engaged stakeholders in
Malaysia on the TPPA. I am confident
that through these stakeholder dialogues, the more knowledgeable members of the Malaysian TPPA negotiation team fully understand the impact
to Malaysia’s Healthcare system of
attempts to institutionalise the practice
of evergreening patents, extending Data
Exclusivity attaching to Biotherapies to
12 years from the current Data Exclusivity period of 5 years and also attempts
to introduce patent linkages. There are
many other reasons for the vociferous
objections to the terms of the Intellectual Property Chapter in the TPPA
beyond just availability but ultimately it
will be the Healthcare system in Malaysia that will bear the folly of agreeing
to the proposed Intellectual Property
Chapter in the TPPA.
MOPI’s position on the TPPA has
been consistent. As a large trading
Nation with a relatively small population, we are totally in support of the
TPPA to encourage global trade. We are
supportive of a fair Intellectual Property regime to reward true innovation.
What we are against is abusing Intellectual Property laws to support any extension of patents in whatever form that
delays access of the Malaysian Healthcare System to affordable generics and
Biosimilars. The Malaysian Healthcare
System is already crippled due to the
current patent regime in Malaysia, so
we do not need the TPPA in its current
form to chop the System at its knees.
dent Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank
postponed a $90 million loan to Uganda
saying it needed to review the law for
adverse affects on its development
objectives. Uganda seemed unmoved
and retorted by saying it would not be
blackmailed by Western powers. The drama of love, sex and aid is not
only being performed on the crosscontinental political stage but also in
two recent film and theatre producContinued on page 5
4
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
http://shorensteincenter.org | @shorensteinctr
speaker
series
Tuesday, April 8, 12 p.m.
Taubman 275
“The Future of
Newspapers”
briAn mcgrory,
editor, The Boston
Globe.
Thursday, April 10, 4-6 p.m.
Taubman 275
“Partisanship in the Non-Partisan
Press: The Implications of Media
Bias for Democracy.”
Jesse shApiro
Professor of
Economics, Booth
School of Business,
University of Chicago
Wednesday, April 9, 12 p.m.
Cason Seminar Room, Taubman 1st floor
“Is the New Communication Climate
Good for the Earth’s Climate?”
A look at the fast-shifting toolbox for conveying,
debating and muddying news and ideas related
to environmental science and policy
Andrew revkin,
science and
environmental reporter,
writes the Dot Earth blog
for The New York Times.
kAThleen hAll JAmieson
Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor
of Communication, Annenberg
School of Communication,
University of Pennsylvania
ThomAs pATTerson
Moderator; Bradlee
Professor of Government
and the Press, Harvard
Kennedy School
http://shorensteincenter.org | @shorensteinctr
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
5
CITIZENOPINION
Continued from page 3
tions. God Loves Uganda (2013) and
Witness Uganda (2014), when watched
together, reveal much more about the
potential hazards of aid - and withdrawing aid - than current decisions of the
US administration and the World Bank. Where the latter are concerned about
the hazards for gays and lesbians living
in Uganda, God Loves Uganda and Witness Uganda are concerned about the
hazards of US sending aid to Uganda. The film God Loves Uganda (soon
to be released on DVD) exposes how
American money is being funneled
to certain Ugandan churches, which
vociferously preach the so-called evils
of homosexuality and call for its violent eradication. It is directed by Roger
Ross Williams, was nominated for an
Academy Award and has been screening across America since late last year.
Williams is gay and explains: “I grew
up in the black church. My father was a
religious leader in the community and
my sister is a pastor. I went to church
every Sunday and sang in the choir. But
for all that the church gave me, for all
that it represented belonging, love and
community, it also shut its doors to me
as a gay person. That experience left me
with the lifelong desire to explore the
power of religion to transform lives or
destroy them.” His incredibly brave film
shows how certain US evangelicals move
their money and dogma from the US
to Uganda. Williams documents how
these evangelicals are promoting and
funding homophobia both in Ugandan churches and parliament. He shows
footage of Scott Lively, who is currently
running for Governor in Massachusetts
and is well known for arguing gays were
responsible for the holocaust, lecturing Ugandan Parliamentarians on how
to counter the so-called “Homosexual Agenda”. He captures naive white
CORRECTION
The cartoon in last issue should
have been placed with David
Delmar’s article not Shimon
Shmooely’s – sorry about that!
Sex, Love and Aid
20-year-old American men instructing wizened black 80-year-old Ugandan
grandmothers how to live their lives in
accordance with the Lord’s word. He
follows the flow of money from the
International House of Prayer, in Missouri, to churches in Kampala where
Ugandan pastors are seen to be mimicking the words of US evangelicals condemning homosexuality in God’s name. Tragically these Uganda pastors are also
building on US evangelical discourse to
incite their congregations to perpetrate
and justify violence. A Ugandan pastor
stands on a stage in a field before a congregation and as part of the sermon condemning the sexual perversion of homosexuals shouts through a loudhailer,
“Those who are ready to kill those who
are homosexual, hands up!” Everyone’s
hand shoots up to volunteer. Williams explains that he made this
film because he was “curious about the
people who wanted to kill” him. He
couldn’t understand how when he met
both US and Ugandan evangelicals
they were so “polite”, “agreeable” and
“charming”. He couldn’t make sense
of this contradiction – a polite, agreeable, charming killer? In the courageous
act of trying to understand what drives
hatred Williams has shown the dangers
of assuming words have the same meaning in a different context. His message
is that America needs to think about the
unintended consequences of its words
and its aid. As the protagonist in the
film, Reverend Kapya Kaoma, explains:
“usually when people are putting their
money in the collection plate at church,
they don’t know where this money is
going. They see this poor face of an
African child – the same money which
a person would have given in good faith
to help is used to destroy people’s lives in
various parts of Africa”. Williams rightly
draws an analogy with Joseph Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness where the white man
journeys to Africa filled with the imagined darkness and evils of black Africa
only to find the real darkness and evils
are within himself. Or in Williams’s case
– as he puts it: “I, a black man, made that
journey to Africa and found - America”. In contrast Witness Uganda portrays the
existential angst of a young gay Afri-
can-American who haphazardly takes
himself, and eventually his charity, to
Uganda to try and educate Ugandans. It is a colorful musical created by Matt
Gould and Griffin Matthews – partners
in life and work. Gould and Griffin tell
the semi-autobiographical story of Griffin going to Uganda in his 20s only to
find nothing as he expected. He went
to help and then found that the pastor
running his gap-year project, to build
a school, was corrupt. Committed to
doing “good” Griffin ran away and semiadopted a team of orphans, who had
lost their parents to AIDS, and needed a
teacher. Where Williams examines the
harms of aid in cross-continental relations, Gould and Matthews lament that
“giving is complicated”. There are no surprises and the musical ends with everyone living happily-ever-after. Gould and
Matthews now fund the education of
orphans on a more permanent basis.
The unspoken issue throughout Witness Uganda is Griffin’s sexuality, which
he reveals in the penultimate scene,
to one of his now adult orphan students. Instead of this revelation being
an opportunity for tragedy (the student rejects Griffin despite his years of
love commitment) or transformation
(the student accepts Griffin because of
their shared love and integrity), they
agree never to talk about it again. Witness Uganda unwittingly suggests that
any revelation of gayness in Africa is a
problem. Although in some ways this
could be correct – a revelation of gayness is equally problematic in most parts
of the world as gay people fear rejection
from family and friends regardless of
the degree of protection a country’s laws
might (or might not) give them. Part of
coming out and staying out is not only
to self-actualize but also to occupy a
political space - something which Griffin ultimately fails to do in Uganda. The
tragedy of this is that as a result of the
Ugandan law Griffin is now criminalized along with his student for failing to
report him to the police for being gay. I attended the question and answer
sessions of both productions. I am
a South African lawyer working on
sexuality, law and governance in Africa
and was interested in the audiences’
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
responses. After God Loves Uganda, a
middle-aged white American woman
asked how it is that she could help. I
was struck at how well Reverend Kaoma
(who was one of the panelists that night)
answered the question. He very politely
asked the women not to help Uganda
but rather to turn her attentions home. He encouraged her to do whatever she
could to prevent US religious institutions from spreading hatred in other
parts of the world and finding ways to
hold them accountable for their actions
abroad. After Witness Uganda, a Ugandan man stood up and carefully asked
Gould and Matthews if they had thought
about the “unintended consequences”
of their giving. The question stood out
because it was so different to the other
questions (which were mainly affirmations that the show reflected a common
experience of travelling to Africa to
help – whether it be as Peace Corp volunteers or non-profit donors working
abroad). He seemed to be suggesting
that there may have been harms which
came from Griffin’s haphazard attempts
to help. The show had suggested that
nothing but good comes from giving, so
why else ask about unintended consequences? Having lived and worked in
South and Southern Africa my whole
life I know that aid can, at the very least,
be disruptive and questions like these
need to be listened to for what may be
implied rather than what is said directly. To generalize: Africans, including Ugandans, do not publicly confront a person
with whom they disagree as this would
be considered rude. So in listening to
the polite, but firm, question from the
Ugandan he seemed concerned about
the unknown disruption and harm that
Gould and Matthews project, or others
like theirs, might be causing. This is
unsurprising to me as I have witnessed
many a development project which
funds interns’ summer-break holidays
more than it funds services in the host
country. And then, to make matters
worse, these projects might unintentionally disrupt services or systems in
the host country. Gould and Matthews
could unfortunately not provide the
Ugandan with an answer. Continued on page 11
6
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
PHOTOCOMPETITION
Anders Lonstrup Graugaard - Israel trek
Christina Marin - China Trek
Kyle Herman - Palestine Trek
Christina Marin - China Trek
Christina Marin - China Trek
Christina Marin - China Trek
Mai Mislang - Japan Trek
Mai Mislang - Japan Trek
Mai Mislang - Japan Trek
Mai Mislang - Japan Trek
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
PHOTOCOMPETITION
Maris Syms - Israel Trek
Maris Syms - Israel Trek
Maris Syms - Israel Trek
Anders Lonstrup Graugaard - Israel trek
Redha Alhaidar - South Korea
er
azon Vouch
0 Am
Winner! $5
This month’s competition is “Easter.”
The prize is a $50 Harvard Cap and Mug!
Email your JPEGs plus a short (up to 100
characters) description, location (and
names if more than one person in the
shots) to hkscitizen@ gmail.com.
• They can be visually amazing,
shocking, funny, celebrity filled or
just generally impressive
• They don’t need to be politically
themed (might help though)
• They don’t just to have HKS students
in them (though obviously we’re all
damned good looking so that might
help as well)
• You may submit multiple entries
Redha Alhaidar - South Korea
Mai Mislang - Japan Trek
Photo by Redha Alhaidar
The deadline is MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY
April 16, so better get snapping...
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
7
8
THECITIZEN | Tuesday, November 12, 2013
TALENTSHOW
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
9
CITIZENCULTURE
Students Speak Out on Campus:
Identity & Diversity Issues Raised
By Tommy Tobin
If you’ve been in any of the classrooms
this past week at HKS, chances are quite
high you’ve seen a question about identity or diversity on campus. If you’ve not
happened to attend class or look at the
board, the same questions were placed
all around the Forum and other public
spaces around campus, along with colorful and conspicuous boxes to collect
them.
Identities and diversity comes in
many forms, including political points
of view to socioeconomic background.
Creating a culture of diversity can mean
maintaining safe and welcoming spaces
for learning and teaching drawing from
students, faculty, and staff from a range
of various backgrounds and experiences. “One of the goals of the campaign
is to find out what diversity looks like at
HKS and to have people question their
assumptions about identify and diversity,” according to Debbie Chen, MPP’
15. Chen went on to say that “all too
often diversity is just thought to be racial
or ethnic diversity, but this campaign is
meant to show a broader view of diversity.” Recognizing the importance and
challenge of diversity, HKS recently creating the Office of Student Diversity and
Inclusion to further raise the institutional profile of these issues. The student
Speak Out campaign may demonstrate
that there is further work that can be
done.
Each day on campus, a dedicated
group of students—drawn largely from
the M.P.P. program—has gathered in
the early morning and posted cards
and questions around campus. These
prompts range from “What identifies
you at HKS?” to “Tell me of a time when
you felt uncomfortable speaking at HKS
because of your identity.” Students have
responded to these calls with hand-written notes and online on the HKS Speak
Out Tumblr. According to Amanda
Dominguez, MPP ’15, the website had
100 unique visitors in just one day. Students, faculty, and staff have shared their
stories.
On the Tumblr site, some students
have written about their experience with
a particular skin color or gender. Some
students took to Tumblr to talk about
their experience being Conservative at
the Kennedy School, noting that other
students have been vocal about their
liberal beliefs. Other students discussed
times where their identity as a woman of
color had been challenged and the pain
and discomfort she sometimes experienced by unintentionally hurtful comments by classmates and faculty.
While most voices on the blog are
Culture Editor:
Ted Zagraniski
sharing experiences, other students
have written in to the campaign to say
that they have never felt uncomfortable because of their identity at HKS.
Another student wrote that isolated
incidences do not rise to the level of
a “massive case of discrimination” at
the school. Even if such a “massive
case” does not exist, such experiences
may represent missed opportunities.
Dominguez, one of the student organizers, said, “I think we are missing
opportunities to understand ourselves
and each other better and address how
‘misunderstandings’ in the classroom
can perpetuate biases and stereotypes
that then impact our decisions as policymakers.”
The current Speak Out campaign
extends the work of student organizers
going on since Autumn. Students from
across degree programs have been meeting regularly to actively share stories and
spark conversations. The campaign has
set out to get the community to think
about range of identities and diverse
voices on campus and to consider how
personal experience affects policy views.
As the Citizen went to print, student
organizers are meeting to decide how
to use the stories shared to advance the
conversations they’ve already started on
campus.
Guns for All?
Traditional attempts to curb gun violence have been unsuccessful. The
debate has reached an impasse. It's time to try a new approach.
By Jeffrey R. Kushner
I have a confession to make.
As a northeastern Jewish liberal, I
have held certain beliefs for most of my
life. Core among these beliefs is that
no one needs to own a gun. In fact the
nation would be best served with a limit
or ban on private ownership of any guns.
But it is clear to me that I am wrong.
There is, after all, virtually no chance
that we will see federal gun control legis-
lation at any time soon and, attempting
to regulate guns at the state level is the
legislative equivalent of eating soup with
a fork. I now understand that Wayne
LaPierre of the National Rifle Association has it exactly right. The only way
to reduce or even eliminate the 30,000
deaths and over 100,000 injuries attributed to gun violence each year is to
make sure that EVERYONE has access
to the gun of their choice. This approach
upholds our Second Amendment rights
while protecting innocent people from
the scourge of gun violence. I am a child
of the Cold War. I know deterrence
works. It’s been 65 years since the Soviet
Union went nuclear, and no one has
used a nuclear weapon since. Even the
runt on the nuclear block, North Korea,
seems to understand that just because
you have a nuke doesn’t mean that
you actually need to use it. If we know
everyone is armed, we will all be more
hesitant to use a gun. In 1977, over half
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
of Americans reported owning a gun,
while today gun ownership is trending
down toward a third of households. But
this decline has had little effect on gun
violence. Firearm crimes as a percentage
of crimes have remained steady during
the same period.
We must try a different approach.
The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the cost of deaths from gun
Continued on page 11
10
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
CITIZENCULTURE
Student Spotlight: Maria Syms
Valley of which you are most proud? What did you do before you came to
the Kennedy School?
I was a trial attorney in Hawaii for the
first part of my career, but the contentious nature of legal practice did not
sufficiently erode my soul, so I became
involved in local and national government and politics. I served in the Bush
administration as an Assistant United
States Attorney in Los Angeles where
much of my practice focused on immigration and civil rights. Once I became
a mom, I had to become creative about
balancing family with my desire to continue in public service. I served for ten
years on my Town’s Planning Commission and was elected the first woman
Chair and served two terms. I then had
the chance to be a small part of history
in my Town when I was encouraged to
run for Mayor in the first direct election of the position.
Would you highlight for us two or
three accomplishments at Paradise
I am most proud of the dialogue I
started in my Town while running for
Mayor. Although I did not prevail, I
was able to increase transparency and
accountability in Town leadership.
In addition, my platform relating to
increased vigilance for public safety
has been completely adopted and at
my urging, the Town has now invested
in much needed improvements to the
police infrastructure. As a mother and
longtime resident, it is gratifying to
know that the people’s concerns regarding safety are now being addressed. I
am happy to have contributed to the
peace of mind of my neighbors.
What convinced you to move from
New York (where you grew up) all the
way to Arizona?
I would like to say that I was driven by
my commitment to the rugged individualism and independence of the
Wild West, but I actually did it for love.
While I am true Arizonan now, you
can never entirely take the New Yorker
out of a girl.
Shanghai. Israel was a very moving
experience – before you actually visit
it is very difficult to appreciate the
physical proximity of so many different ethnic and religious groups. It is a
country rich in religious and historical
significance and a must see for anyone
focused on public policy. And the food
is excellent!
Being back with my family and friends
and using the tools I learned here to be
a better leader in serving my community. And an awesome trip to Hawaii
– mahalo!
What do you miss most about Arizona? I think some of the most valuable offerings at HKS involve the treks. Having
the chance to travel to other countries
and meet leaders and innovators who
are shaping the future is one of the best
educational experiences. I was able
to bring my family with me to China
and it was great to enjoy it with them.
I particularly enjoyed the vibrancy of
the arts and cultural community in
What one item is essential to your
everyday life and why? What are you looking forward to
most after you graduate in May?
That feeling you have when you know
the weather has just changed from
summer to fall – it’s in the air. And the
leaves of course!
We see that you travelled to China
and Israel this year. Why did you go
and what did you learn? It is very difficult to choose just one.
The countless moments with friends
sharing and hearing their personal
stories and the lifelong friendships we
have made.
Most people who know me know that I
love music – so I would have to say my
earbuds are essential. Music feeds my
soul every day.
What’s the best thing about New England? I miss sitting outside with my family
and watching the vibrant colors of the
Arizona sunset over Camelback Mountain – unmatched anywhere.
When you graduate from HKS, what
is the best memory you’ll take away? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Christmas Eve and the excitement of
the kids tracking Santa on their iPads
and preparing the cookies and oranges
for Santa and his reindeer.
Know someone amazing?
Nominate someone for the spotlight by emailing
hkscitizen@gmail.com
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
11
CITIZENCULTURE
The Hidden Gem of the HKS Clubs
By Ioannis Tsoutsias
Harvard Kennedy School is a unique
place: I cannot think of many places that
can compete with the School in attracting amazing speakers with such ease.
My involvement in the European Club
of HKS this year has been a testimony to
this conclusion.
When I came to HKS, I saw my participation in the European Club as a
once in a lifetime opportunity to hold
frank debates with senior public officials on the issues I really care about.
In this regard, I made an extraordinary
attempt to contribute to the relevant
activities. Today, I feel that this effort has
been worthwhile; within this academic
year, I managed to organize events with
outstanding guests including ex-Prime
Ministers, Ministers, high level diplomats and other senior leaders holding
public office.
Many assumed that I pulled off these
events because I knew these people
previously. The plain truth is that I had
barely met with any politicians during
my previous career in the private sector,
let alone maintaining any working relationships with them. In fact, as I have
explained in the HKS admission blog (a
link to this post is available at the end
of the article), due to my very limited
exposure to the public sector, I was feeling rather ignorant of what my Harvard
Kennedy School experience would be
like.
How did I then manage to organize these events? Obviously persistence
and professionalism can go a long way
in making things happen. However, the
image of the student clubs, an extension
of the influential brand of the School,
has been central to this success beyond
any doubt. I was amazed by the openness of the HKS guests to our community. They have always been exceptionally willing to share their experiences
Sex, Love and Aid
Continued from page 5
Although Witness Uganda is entertaining it doesn’t move past the axiom
that “giving is complicated”. In contrast,
God Loves Uganda thoughtfully takes
audiences on a global political journey
from Missouri to Kampala, from dark
to light and light to dark and back again. It demonstrates the real risks associated with giving. It sends a message that
giving needs to be done carefully as it
will always have an effect. The only way
to safely give is to do it carefully and
to know where the money is going and
what it is being used for. This responsibility applies equally to
not giving. Withdrawing aid requires
knowing where the money is not going
and why. There must be strategic withdrawal of aid not general withdrawal. How else can powerful governments
and banks avoid harmful unintended
consequences of not giving? Where the
US and the World Bank say they are
reviewing their assistance programs and
development objectives as a result of
Uganda’s law they need to be sure they
can justify withdrawing specific types of
aid. This would be the case, for example, where US money is being used to
deny gays and lesbians access to health
care services or where US money has
been or is being used by organizations
which vocally support the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The Dutch government
has adopted this approach and has sensibly withdrawn aid from the Ugandan
justice sector. Without this the Dutch
would be accomplices to the crime of
jailing gays and lesbians for love and
consensual adult sex. Let’s hope over
the next weeks and months that Obama
and Kim follow this example. By
knowing what aid is being withdrawn
and why, the US and the Bank have
an opportunity to send a clear valuedriven message that those who are complicit with the Ugandan government in
needless persecution will not benefit
from the generosity of Americans. and their insights with HKS. Even the
most high profile persons, feel privileged
to get the opportunity to speak at the
school and make extraordinary efforts
not to waste it.
Nonetheless, while HKS clubs unquestionably equip students with an unparalleled platform to build their network
and assume important responsibilities,
it is puzzling for me why only few take
advantage of this opportunity. I fully
understand that many of us face severe
time constraints; time is a very scarce
resource. With so many activities taking
place in the school, our schedules are
packed and we occasionally feel overwhelmed.
However, I also sense that we don’t
sufficiently realize the high impact
potential of the clubs. Resources are
sometimes wasted across several caucuses with a somewhat narrow focus,
while the collective power of the clubs
remains underappreciated and underu-
Guns for All?
Continued from page 9
violence in 2005 was over 37 billion
dollars! This does not even include the
cost of non-fatal gun incidents. Much
of this cost is born by taxpayers. Imagine the positive impact on government
budgets with even the slightest drop in
gun violence.
Rather than relaxing our gun laws,
let’s take firm action to make our families safer. I propose that the government
undertake a program that will, within
five years, provide every American citizen and legal immigrant with a suitable
firearm, a small amount of ammunition, and basic gun safety training. If we
assume that the cost to properly arm a
person is $500, then this program will
pay for itself in one year. Of course, all
guns distributed by the government
would be fully traceable using the most
recent technology, and registered in a
national database of gun owners.
How best to roll out this plan? First,
distribute guns to the portion of our
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11
tilized. Clubs with a broad scope, such
as the Latin American and the European ones, can obtain an outstanding
status and influence policy issues by
mobilizing the collective networks of a
very large pool of students and tap into
the vast array of resources provided by
the HKS centers, the Professors and the
alumni.
I hope that the incoming classes of
HKS will exploit to the maximum the
opportunities of HKS clubs. In this
respect, the Mid-Career students, drawing on their wide experiences, could
provide more leadership for the benefit
of the whole school community.
Follow me on twitter: @tsoutsias
HKS admission blog: "In search of
an unconceivable career change" by
Ioannis Tsoutsias: http://hksadmissionblog.tumblr.com/post/80748532905/
in-search-of-an-unconceivable-careerchange-ioannis
population with the largest rate of gun
violence and/or the lowest ownership
of guns. Fortunately,there is significant
overlap of these demographics. According to Pew Research, almost half of
white households have at least one gun
in the home. For black households the
number is a quarter, and for hispanic
households the number is a fifth. It is in
black and hispanic communities, particularly in urban centers that the highest incidence of gun violence occurs.
Levelling the playing field should have a
significant impact here.
Not only will this plan to reduce gun
violence make our nation safer, it will
also result in employment gains. There
will be increased hiring among gun
manufacturers. And clearly, we’ll need
more gun safety instructors as well.
Finally, arming everyone should make
laws such as Florida’s Stand and Protect
irrelevant. If everyone is armed, there’s
no need to question if someone has a
gun. There will be no need to hesitate for
even a second when you see something
you don’t like. Just shoot! A return to the
duel at fifty paces to solve disputes may
just be what America needs.
12
THECITIZEN | Monday, April 7, 2014
integrity.
Find it at Harvard University Employees Credit Union.
Not a bank. A benefit.
Are you eligible?
Scan here to find out!
huecu.org | 617.495.4460
NE W S 1– 2 | OPINIONS 3– 5 | PH O T OS 6– 7 | CU LTU RE 8 –11