HBS Repeatedly Consulted Students About Grades Policy

To the editors:



Alex Slack is wrong when he writes in his dissenting opinion (“No Value Added” Dec. 1) that HBS “administrators...did not consult the school’s student leaders until yesterday.” In fact, Professor Rick Ruback, the chair of the MBA Program, was getting together with students long before that. He talked with the student Senate about this matter on Oct. 25. On Nov. 10, he met with the Student Association Academic Committee (the standing committee focusing on these kinds of issues), which recommended a course of action that was followed: an explanatory letter from Ruback and the use of focus groups to gauge student opinion. And on Nov. 22, he went to another meeting with members of the student Senate. That’s three meetings with student leaders before Nov. 30. Students do indeed “deserve a voice in this process,” and that’s exactly what they got.



JIM AISNER ’68

Boston

December 5, 2005



The writer is Director of Media Relations at Harvard Business School.