By Neil Gundavda Like many holidays, Thanksgiving is both contrived and hypocritical.   From birth, American children are bombarded with cartoonish scenes of seamless integration of the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621. The bountiful harvest did not result in 400 years of peaceful and charitable relations between white settlers and indigenous Americans, […]

By Nathan Finney There was a very visual display of the military cohort in this year’s class on the first day back from Veteran’s Day.  All shades of colors graced black and blue uniforms, drawing the eye of many at the Kennedy School.  This display was organized by the Armed Forces Committee and was designed […]

By Jon Murad One of the amazing things about Harvard is the degree to which it can be both immutable and ever-changing. In the next five years, big changes may be coming to the Kennedy School.   The school has just completed a new campus framework plan that lays out some of the challenges associated […]

By Chrissie Long Down with the donkeys and the elephants: It’s time for a new beast in American politics. Disillusioned with the same old two-party system, many Americans have begun looking for alternatives. Among them is political advisor and current fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Mark McKinnon who says that our current political system […]

By Citizen Staff Kennedy School students secured the title of this year’s graduate kickball champions, defeating ten other graduate school teams from across Harvard. The 2nd annual Graduate Student Kickball Tournament was sponsored jointly by the Graduate Commons Program and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A total of 11 teams from various Harvard graduate […]

By Jennifer Hoegen Regardless of which candidate wins the election, bipartisan support is needed to move the United States forward on anti-trafficking legislation and services. Hopefully, the election season will spur politicians to jump into action and pay attention to the need to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Twelve years ago, the […]

By Bryann DaSilva As I write this, anyone who cares about politics is, well, freaking out. Some are scared to death of China or Iran. Some are still tweeting about binders and Big Bird. Others are still clamoring for tax returns or college transcripts or some documentation that, even if released, wouldn’t matter very much […]

By Zach Crowley Spend enough time researching the Massachusetts Senate race online and you are bound to wind up at a blog entry where 17 of the 84 words are ‘douchebag’. All of the time-tested political tricks are in play, from war whoops to deadly accusations of tenured professorship.  The gender baiting and name calling […]

By Citizen Staff The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) of Government attracts students with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This diverse student body includes quite a few seasoned campaign workers with informed opinions on the current state of affairs on both Presidential campaigns in the US. The Citizen interviewed five such students who have been involved with […]

By Zach Crowley Four years ago President Barack Obama rolled into office as the electorate reacted to a suddenly struggling economy after eight years of President George W. Bush. At the midterm elections, with the economy not yet recovered and following the advent of Tea Party politics, the country shifted to the right and Republicans […]

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of three columns leading up to the Nov. 6 election. The Citizen requested opinion pieces from campus democrats and republicans. The democrats failed to respond. The previous columns focused on foreign policy and healthcare.   Perhaps more than anything else, Barack Obama’s biggest failure as President […]

By Amelie de Montchalin Six months after the French Presidential elections, observing the American Presidential election gives one a feeling of much more preparedness and way less spontaneity. In a sense, the American society likes to put the same famous mass-market play on stage every four years. The script is easy to follow as it […]