By Emma McGrath, News Staff

Since Northeastern announced Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president, as this year’s commencement speaker last month, students and faculty have chimed in on the selection – some highly supportive of the choice, and others decidedly less so.

“My initial reaction was disapproval,” said senior psychology major Alana Reina. “The leader of the World Bank is not someone that I feel like I could take a valuable message from for my own direction in life.”

Senior sociology and philosophy major Sharon Giardino also questioned Kim as a speaker, and described the reaction within her friend group as “not outraged, but disappointed.”

“It’s hard to relate to someone who runs the World Bank,” she said. “As someone who will likely be making $30,000 a year, I don’t feel like I can identify with him at all.”

Prior to his World Bank presidency, Kim served as the 17th president of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he spotlighted student health issues.

Some impassioned students cited political reasons for their dissatisfaction with Kim: his leadership of an institution whose effectiveness and good intentions have frequently been the subject of debate.

Since its conception in 1944, the World Bank has been no stranger to controversy, often facing criticism for its “structural adjustment” policies in developing countries. The Bank, along with its partner institution, the International Monetary Fund, provides financial assistance for countries in need – but that help comes at a price.

As a precondition for receiving money, countries must liberalize their economies – in other words, minimize state involvement in economic matters, increase privatization, reduce or remove regulations and adopt various spending cutbacks.

Critics say that poor countries are often made to devalue their currencies, keeping the exchange rate in the favor of donor countries. The poor countries, in order to pay off their debt, must export huge amounts of goods, forcing them into the global marketplace before they are ready and effectively creating a worldwide price war, according to critics.

Denis Sullivan, professor of political science at Northeastern and author of a book on the World Bank, said these factors all combine to secure the Bank’s status as one of the global “bogeymen.”

“The Bank is at the heart of the global capitalist system,” he said. “With that system reeling in recent years – most notably, the failings in the Eurozone plus the Bush-era near-collapse of the American economy – all of this is all the evidence people need to distrust the Bank and its policies.”

The World Bank is not a “bank” in the typical sense of the word, and Kim is not a typical president. Unlike most banks, the World Bank is owned by its nearly 188 member countries, and sets its sights on reducing global poverty. Kim, for his part, is its first leader whose professional experience is not in the financial or political sectors.

A graduate of Brown University, Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, Kim is a prominent figure in the field of global health, having previously served as director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department.

This divergence, some argue, gives Kim the potential to revolutionize the World Bank for the better, and validates him as a commencement speaker.

Catia Sharp, a senior international affairs and environmental studies major, said she is “incredibly excited” to have Kim at commencement, citing his efforts toward “evidence-based results rather than ideology.”

“This is an incredible transition for the World Bank. He is the first-ever president to not be an economist representing the neoliberal order,” she said. “It is ironic that some criticize him for his World Bank presidency when, in fact, he is the most capable leader thus far to reverse the controversial practices of that institution.”

In a Bank press release issued shortly after his selection as president, Kim vowed to “seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world.” He also promised to “amplify the voices of developing countries” in a way that served the diverse needs of clients and donors.

Asked for comment, a university spokeswoman pointed to a statement Northeastern issued after Kim was announced as the commencement speaker.

“The impact of Dr. Kim’s work spans across continents and is exemplary of the work of our researchers and students,” President Joseph E. Aoun said in the statement. “His efforts to ease worldwide poverty and increase social responsibility are inspiring, and we are pleased to honor his contributions.”

But given the Bank’s dubious past, some students are reluctant to trust its practices until tangible results emerge. Rawan Alkhatib, a freshman international affairs major, remains skeptical of the Bank’s lack of transparency and oversight, and feels it is a detrimental institution overall.

Despite her disapproval of the bank itself, Alkhatib expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of Kim speaking at commencement.

“Jim Yong Kim is a successful man. He would leave any international affairs major star-struck,” she said. “Regardless of what I believe about the World Bank, I feel like he is a suitable choice.”

Senior business administration major Joe Coronado said that among his friends, support for Kim as a speaker varied by area of study.

“When I speak to business students, there’s some disappointment,” he said, “but when I spoke to some international affairs students, there’s huge support for having him, because he’s a really influential global figure. There’s only a handful of people with that kind of power.”

Senior political science major Dylan O’Sullivan said he looks forward to the address, and that Kim’s credentials are relevant to his professional interests.

“I’m excited. I have an economics minor, so it’s definitely something I’m interested in,” he said.

But he added that, given the importance and memorability of a commencement speaker, the university should gather student opinion before making such a decision.

“I think it’d be great if the university provided a list of the speakers they were pursuing so that students could have some input into the whole thing,” O’Sullivan said.

Reina, who is opting not to attend graduation, echoed the sentiment.

“I think we should have had more comprehensive surveys on what students care about,” she said. “They should have been a little more wise in thinking about what their speaker represents.”