Harvard Kennedy School Floats Visiting Faculty Program in Donor Talks on Viewpoint Diversity

The Harvard Kennedy School is weighing a visiting faculty program to expand intellectual diversity on campus as administrators explore new ways to address criticism that Harvard’s faculty leans overwhelmingly liberal.

The proposal, discussed with top-dollar donors at a Dean’s Council meeting last October, would bring scholars to HKS for yearlong fellowships with the goal of retaining some as permanent faculty, according to Mark R. Wittcoff, a member of the Council’s Leadership Circle.

The idea has also surfaced in recommendations from a task force convened by HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein to reimagine the school’s leadership and academic priorities.

Though not yet formalized, the initiative would align the Kennedy School with a broader University-wide push to expand “viewpoint diversity” among faculty. Over the past year, Harvard administrators have explored raising funds for new endowed professorships — which can cost roughly $10 million each — aimed at increasing ideological representation across schools and departments.

At the October meeting, Weinstein told donors the Kennedy School was working to build a more balanced professoriate, Wittcoff said. Weinstein raised the issue unprompted, according to Wittcoff, framing it as part of an effort to respond to public perceptions about the school.

“He said, ‘We’re still being mischaracterized or misperceived as a liberal institution, we’re trying hard to get a more balanced faculty, and we’re doing it,’” Wittcoff said.

Weinstein pointed to fellowship programs as one of the primary tools the school is using to address the imbalance, Wittcoff recounted.

“One of the ways we’re doing it is to try to bring conservatives here on fellowships and then see if we can do it from there,” he said.

An HKS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Wittcoff’s characterizations, but wrote in a prior statement that administrators had received “hundreds of recommendations” from alumni and advisory groups, and that the school was still sifting through the proposals.

The proposed program would expand on that approach, formalizing a pipeline in which visiting fellows could transition into full-time faculty roles.

“We are currently considering those ideas, and no decisions have been made at this time,” he wrote.

Wittcoff said conversations about ideological diversity have been a recurring topic in meetings with both Weinstein and his predecessor, former HKS Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf.

According to Wittcoff, Elmendorf acknowledged during a private conversation in 2023 the difficulty of increasing ideological diversity on the faculty, citing a shortage of conservative scholars in academia.

“Both deans acknowledged that the Kennedy School was working hard at bringing diversity-appointed faculty to Harvard, and it’s really tough because there aren’t enough of them,” Wittcoff said.

Elmendorf declined to comment on efforts to bring in conservative faculty.

The broader push to expand viewpoint diversity has drawn cautious concern from some faculty members, who see donor-backed initiative as a potential avenue for increased outside influence over hiring and academic priorities.

At HKS, several smaller-scale initiatives aimed at fostering intellectual diversity are already underway, including a “Debate, Debrief, and Dessert” series and an American Service Fellowship for public servants and veterans.

But the school has yet to announce a formal initiative centered specifically on viewpoint diversity.

HKS has long positioned itself as a hub for cross-partisan dialogue, particularly through its Institute of Politics.

In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, the Kennedy School moved to convene faculty-led discussions aimed at bringing together a range of perspectives on the conflict.

The University’s task force report on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias later cited programming by HKS professor Tarek Masoud as an example of engaging diverse viewpoints, highlighting events that featured “guests representing a wide range of experiences and perspectives.”

Wittcoff said the planned fellowships would be the culmination of a yearslong “concerted effort of the Harvard Kennedy School to have a faculty of diverse viewpoints.”

“They’re proud to have these fellowships to bring them to teach for a year and try to get them acclimated and to love Harvard and want to stay,” he said.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.

​​—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Jen L. Phan can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at jenphan.74. Follow her on X at @jenllphan.