Students organize inaugural bipartisan debate and election night watch party.
What started as a small gathering for 84 students in Professor Bob White’s Road to the White House course became a 450-person election night watch party in HBS’ largest venue, Klarman Hall.
What started as a three-student effort to create space for open conversation at HBS became a 12-person debate with 250 students in the audience.
Some would argue the secret ingredient was free pizza. That didn’t hurt. But the “pepperoni on these pies” was the bravery of student leaders who dared to spark conversations, and the open-minded curiosity of community members who showed up, ready to listen.
It Starts at the Top
Professor Matt Weinzierl (Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program) and Jana Kierstead (Executive Director of the MBA and Doctoral Programs and External Relations) opened the watch party with a warm welcome and tip of the hat to bipartisan community-building initiatives across campus.
It wasn’t always meant to be this way. Professor Bob White originally pictured an intimate election night session for students in his popular class on the US political system. He seemed to relish in shamelessly asking politicos who visited class to Zoom back in on November 5th and share their on-the-ground perspective.
In conversation with Weinzierl and Sharon Yamamoto (Associate Director, MBA Student & Academic Services), demand for a larger convening forum became clear. Over many (joking) boos from White’s students, the watch party was officially expanded to the broader HBS community.
In many ways, HBS’s leadership in the case method makes it uniquely capable of training future leaders to discuss difficult issues. Debater Henry Snyder (MBA ’26) said, “Conversations on political topics can be hard to start, but I encourage the HBS community to adopt the same mentality we have in the classroom: to take risks sharing ideas and to be supportive of peers as they do the same.”
On debate night, Weinzierl was front and center in the pit, co-moderating alongside Professor Meg Rithmire. Despite receiving the final run of show less than 24 hours before the event, they understood the assignment. Well-timed interjections and clever questions challenged debaters to take on tough issues thoughtfully.
Dane Alivarius (MBA ’25), debater and Co-President of the Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives Club (DLPC), described it as “a special opportunity to get deep into policy substance,” and argued that “the Business School needs to take a more active approach in cultivating political action on campus.”
After all, this is part of HBS’ responsibility as a platform training leaders who make a difference in the world. Per Jane Wiesenberg (MBA ’25), debater and DLPC Co-President, “as future business leaders, we have a responsibility to engage with issues that will deeply affect our companies and communities.”
Leaders who buy in create space for communities to come together.
Bipartisanship as a Non-Negotiable
Six conservatives and six liberals faced off across the room. Taxes, immigration, and healthcare stood before them.
There was never a doubt these students would shine in the spotlight. The hard part was getting them there. Even among a section with whom students spend their entire first year, discussing cases in a classroom protected by the Chatham House Rule, it can be hard to speak openly. We live in a polarized country, and no one wants to get “canceled.” With Harbus polling showing 70% of students preferred Vice President Harris as President, achieving balance was always going to be difficult. But bipartisanship was non-negotiable.
Twelve courageous students stepped up to the plate. Lo and behold, one of the night’s most memorable moments came when the liberal and conservative teams realized they were in fact in complete agreement on a merit-based immigration issue. It was awkward for a moment, until the room seemed to collectively realize, “We can disagree on some things, and agree on others, and that’s OK.”
Debater Rourke Pattullo (MBA ’25) sought to “give voice to what I’ve seen and heard living and working in the center of the country.” “Partisan political dogma has caused us to forget we have more in common than we have different. My hope is that HBS realizes its responsibility to host forums like this and even if at times uncomfortable, get our class to be exposed to the real fractures within this country, and work to find collective solutions,” said Pattullo.
Debater Danielle Mitalipov (MBA ’25) concurred, saying “ there’s a larger unspoken notion that business and politics don’t mix – this debate was (hopefully!) an important step towards dismantling that belief! It’s becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for industry leaders to stay “apolitical,” especially as election issues increasingly have huge ramifications for markets.”
Representatives from the Conservative Club, the DLPC, the Government & Public Policy Club (including Leadership Now), and the Harbus all took the Klarman stage on election night. Club leaders had worked collaboratively and in bipartisan fashion on an agenda and guestlist that would make the event “fun, informative, and inclusive,” per White.
To paraphrase Dumbledore, “Help Bipartisanship will always be given at Hogwarts HBS to those who ask for it.”
Good Things Happen to Those Who Hustle
The election night working group convened six times in less than four weeks to plan the event. Boxes of Dunkin Munchkins powered frenetic whiteboarding to plan programming, lock down guest speakers, and figure out how to live-poll 450 people in Klarman. There was much to accomplish and little time to do it. Florence Ng (White’s Faculty Support Specialist) reliably kept information flowing, while Yamamoto coordinated logistics.
On election night, attendees arrived expecting to eat pizza and watch TV. Instead, they learned about the electoral college, down ballot races, ballot initiatives, and the state of American democracy. With a bit of prodding from White, they even had follow-up questions for student speakers.
For Weisenberg, the watch party and student debate were “a powerful reminder that effective government is key to cultivating a thriving business environment; that our government needs talented, principled public servants; and that HBS students are uniquely positioned to make meaningful contributions through public service – I hope more of us will consider that path.”
Debaters referenced detailed notes with historical examples and statistics as they sparred over which healthcare model serves the most Americans most efficiently. A week before, they couldn’t have been experts on this subject matter – the debate propositions were not finalized until six days before the debate, and the conservative and liberal teams did not allocate debaters to topics until four days before. But they made it happen.
Sharing drinks under Schwartz pavilion afterwards, debate organizers were already sketching out plans for next semester’s event.
This community values hard workers doing things they believe in.
A Community That Shows Out
The Klarman megaboard glowed with five enormous displays running simultaneously. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) Zoomed in to field live Q&A on the main screen. CNN ran above him to the left and Fox to the right. A running tally of electoral college votes anchored the bottom left, with Senator Booker’s bio appearing opposite. Eleven guests joined over the course of the evening, from HBS alumna and Congressional candidate Shelane Etchison (MBA/MPP ’22), to Democratic pollster and strategist John Anzalone, to Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Rocking a stars-and-stripes cowboy hat, CNN anchor John Berman (College ’95) said his Zoom visit was the closest thing he’ll get to being let into HBS. At least for the night, HBS opened its arms. Joining White to open the watch party were his co-teachers, former Senator Mo Cowan (D-MA) and Romney strategist Peter Flaherty, who joined the HBS community as Executive Fellows in 2024 and 2020, respectively. What sets these two apart is not their ability to persuade you of their own views (at which they’re certainly adept), but their ability to put on their opponent’s (stars-and-stripes cowboy) hat and argue the other side without skipping a beat.
On debate night, students packed the aisles. They seemed to applaud after every individual statement made during the debate – distracting at times, but a refreshing departure from this year’s audience-free U.S. presidential debates. The day before the event, organizers received a heartwarming email from an HBS community member: “My son is currently a freshman in college and is super interested in government and politics. Is the student debate open to family?” The more the merrier.
To debater Abhiram Karuppur (MBA ’25), the diversity of speakers and topics offered something for everyone: “it was a great way for the community to hear both perspectives on critical issues facing the U.S. I also think it was useful for both Americans and international students to gain a better understanding of the American political process and the practical challenges involved in implementing certain policy ideas.”
Both events had major publicity pushes, inundating students with calendar invites, WhatsApp messages, emails, Slack messages, and of course a blurb in the HBS “Buzz.” Spam aside, something about these events gave them the power to reach across swathes of the community that don’t typically overlap.
It takes a concerted effort to convene a diverse community. It’s worth it.
Shout Outs
Shoutout to the fearless student debaters – Dane Alivarius, Danny Delaney, Edward Doan, Alex Goodman, Ricardo Jaramillo, Abhiram Karuppur, Clif Luber, Danielle Mitalipov, Rourke Pattullo, Allison Schwartz, Henry Snyder, and Jane Wiesenberg. Extra credit to Doan and Snyder for representing the RC class. Shout out to Sam Berube, Tim Ford, Julian Gluck, Ben Hsieh, and Molly Krysil for organizing the event.
Shoutout to the student leaders who organized and spoke at the election night watch party – Jane Wiesenberg, Isabelle Tarsh, Colin Price, Michael Nelson, Ben Hsieh, Swanee Golden, Julian Gluck, Tim Ford, and Dane Alivarius. Notice a number of folks doing double duty!
Shoutout to everyone who showed up to watch and cheer on their classmates. This is how sparks catch fire.
Shoutout to HBS administration and staff for organizational excellence – Matt Weinzierl, Jana Kierstead, Sharon Yamamoto, Florence Ng, Gregory Fortier, and many more.
Finally, shoutout to Professors Bob White, Meg Rithmire, Matt Weinzierl, Debora Spar, Caroline Elkins, and many more for their unwavering commitment to making this school the best version of itself. It’s not easy to engage with political conversations in a university context today, but they are more important than ever. These professors created the space students needed to get talking.
To conclude with a reflection from Conservative Club Co-President Michael Nelson (MBA ’25), “the political process does not stop, nor should we as a community neglect to stay involved in the process – even in the ‘down’ years. Healthy democracy is built off active participation.”
Tim Ford (MBA ’25) is originally from New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees in Commerce and Spanish, and completed an M.Phil. in Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge. Prior to the HBS MBA, Tim worked in growth equity at TPG in San Francisco.
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