Lost and Found
Even though I attended a summer program in the early eighties, today was the first time I received your Bulletin. It is excellent. Thank you for finding me and putting me on the mailing list.

Ann Sullivan S&L 1982
Portsmouth, RI

Nye Tribute
The spring issue of the Bulletin somehow managed to give a very warm feeling of pride about being an alumnus of the Kennedy School.

The tribute about Joe Nye was great. The words of Elaine Kamarck, Holly Taylor Sargent, Fen Hampson, and others brought back fine memories of seeing Dean Nye at work in Davos at the World Economic Forum. Amongst the business leaders of the world, often very concerned about their own visibility and financial objectives, Joe Nye truly stood out because of his intellectual honesty and leadership. Someone described him as “patrician” — I agree, when it means dignity, and striving for the best, without arrogance.

When reading about his background, I cannot help thinking there are some essential elements there that helped him to lead “the good life”: solid values, a truly international and intercultural start of his career, Molly, and the always critical but caring look and healthy mirror of children and grandchildren. I wish him and the school the lasting benefits of those great gifts in life for many years to come.

Jean Van den Eynde MPA 1978
Brussels, Belgium

More than One Perspective
With great disgust have I received the latest copy of our school’s alumni magazine. While I am certainly aware that this type of journal of necessity serves a limited purpose — more geared towards public relations than investigative journalism, I still think that you have overstepped the boundaries of what your “international” audience is able to take.

On page 49, you title a report on Ann Garrel’s book presentation Naked in Baghdad. I am probably not the only one who, on reading these words in these times, cannot help but think about the acts committed by American servicemen and women to Iraqi prisoners.

Furthermore, while I can understand that the KSG is first and foremost an American institution and, as such, reflects the war effort that this country is undergoing, I believe that the majority of — at least the international — alumni would not refer to the occupation as “The Honor and Privilege of Service,” as you do on page 17.

Maybe an alumni magazine is not the appropriate forum to discuss the death of people like Mr. Asad Jalil, who died in American captivity. I don’t even know whether it is a topic that is being discussed today at the Kennedy School.

But at the very least the editors of the magazine should have the sensibility to understand that for some of us who graduated from the Kennedy School our association with the country it is located in is undergoing a severe test today. Words like “honor and privilege” are not the first things that spring to mind when we think about the American military presence close to our families.

Ebrahim Afsah MPA2 2001
Heidelberg, Germany

Let us hear from you!
Read something in the Bulletin that made you angry? Learn something new? Want to see more or less of something? We want to hear what you think. Send comments and questions to publish@ksg.harvard.edu.