By: Chris Tingley MPA-DP ‘22

In just a few weeks, Merit Janow will step down from her role as Dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). While I’ve never met Dean Janow (she hosted a total of four general student events–online-only fireside chats that you need to apply to–in my 18 months here), I wish her the best. As the search gets underway for Dean Janow’s permanent replacement, I decided to take a moment to reflect on my time at SIPA and offer three recommendations for our new permanent dean, whomever they may be:

First, acknowledge that good public policy starts within our own institution. SIPA’s next dean needs to build a culture of communication and coordination by: 

• Talking with students frequently through lunches, coffee chats, and town halls to understand what our experience is actually like on the 4th floor and communicate their goals for the future of the institution. We’re making a significant investment, so I think it’s only fair to ask that leadership knows how we’re navigating graduate school and shares their ideas for the future.

• Providing real support and training to advising deans and departments so that academic and professional advice is clear and consistent. New deans should be thoroughly onboarded and workloads should prioritize student support; no student emails to advising deans should go unanswered. 

• Genuinely speaking up after tragedies, hosting timely discussions on public and foreign policy (student groups shouldn’t be the only ones organizing learning after an event like the U.S. exit from Afghanistan), and at the very least, sending an email reflecting on the state of our planet almost 24 months into a pandemic. An international affairs and public policy school’s dean should have opinions about current events, be able to engage and stimulate thoughtful discussion, and show support for their students experiencing trauma and tragedy.

• Listening to and supporting our international students. NYC is not an easy place to move to and somehow Columbia and SIPA make it even harder for international students. 

Second, embrace transparency. We get it, it’s Columbia and elitism is part of the brand. But the constant projection of “being the best global policy school” obscures the challenges that SIPA has with faculty and student recruitment and engagement (see the DEI Report for more information). Further, what are SIPA’s finances actually like? There are a lot of deans – who is responsible for what? Why is it that SIPA’s scholarship process is a complete black box? 

Believe it or not, the Columbia name alone doesn’t automatically make this a great institution. A new dean can break down unnecessary barriers by:

• Creating and sharing an internal organization chart to help direct inquiries to the appropriate staff.

• Making public the statistics on scholarship recipients: how many incoming students received scholarships and for how much? What are those student’s demographics? 

How many fantastic prospective students don’t apply because SIPA makes it seem like literally no one gets funding? 

• Establishing specific scholarships for diverse domestic and international applicants and making them application-based. A great start would be a NYC public school graduate scholarship.

Finally, teach the nitty gritty of public policy. For Academic Year 2021-2022, there is one housing course. On affordable housing finance. In the EMPA program. On Saturdays.

In contrast, there are at least three “impact investing” courses and two on creating and supporting “social enterprises.” Maybe these classes attract applicants, but they detract from the focus and mission of serving people through public policy. Around the corner is an entire institution well-known for innovative private finance and investing--there is no need to be business school-lite here. Many of us have seen government dysfunction; in fact, it drove a lot of us to apply here so let’s talk about how we can fix that to actually meet the needs of the people we aim to serve. 

SIPA’s new permanent dean can reorient towards public policy by:

• Mandating more experiential learning. My most valuable professional experiences have been in direct service, understanding how the “last mile” of public policy really works. One capstone for 2022 that focused on street vendors in NYC was cancelled due to a lack of interest and another with a similar focus is understaffed. I believe that if students were immersed into NYC community organizations from the start, we wouldn’t have these challenges.

• Expanding mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training for students and faculty, and creating more options for students to learn about and engage with topics related to race and power at local, regional and global levels. Harvard’s Kennedy School has two mandatory half-semester courses on race and public policy for students in its Public Policy Master’s Program, why doesn’t “the best global policy school?”

• Attracting more practitioners who have a proven track record of implementing public policy and allowing them to create courses that focus on how to implement policy, not just why. In my experience, SIPA has a deep bench of academic thinkers who study and analyze public policy. This isn’t a Ph.D. program though, and we need to balance analysis with practice. 

My peers and recent alumni are the ambassadors for the next generation of Seeples. Often, I feel viewed by SIPA’s administration more as a customer (whose time here is rapidly coming to an end) than a member of a vast student/alumni network whose experience at SIPA shapes the future support of this institution. Building a culture of communication and coordination, being transparent about operations and scholarship, and deepening policy praxis will not only help SIPA’s new dean garner favor with faculty and staff, it will provide students with the experience and education we’re all seeking: how to change institutions for the better.