Babson dean takes issue with 'lazy' student claim

By Jason Woods, Globe Correspondent

Babson College's undergraduate dean is taking issue with a recent claim by one of the school's adjunct professors who suggested that her American students were lazy.

The op-ed column by Kara Miller published by the Globe Dec. 21 has been met with controversy and criticism, prompting Dean Dennis Hanno to pen a response on his school blog, "Dean's Digest," Dec. 23.

In his blog, Hanno noted that the piece by Miller was her opinion, and did not represent Babson College's official viewpoint.

Hanno wrote that it is "apparent that [Miller] makes broad generalizations about individual students...on the basis of membership in a certain group or category.

Hanno writes that "this is not the way Babson operates" and that Miller's opinion is based on "her brief and limited experience [teaching at Babson College].''

"For my part, having worked in higher education for over twenty years, it would be easy for me to produce anecdote after anecdote – and real data derived from the performance of students at Babson and elsewhere – that would illustrate the folly of ascribing the term “lazy” to any one category of students,'' Hanno wrote..

Hanno noted that Miller's editorial has prompted discussion, calling it an "unintended positive consequence" of the editorial and that Miller has "succeeded in creating a spirited dialogue about the need to stay away from developing stereotypes."

Miller's column quickly became one of the most emailed stories on boston.com. In a follow up column, and in an interview, Miller sought to temper her comments, pointing out that she did not intend to describe all Babson students as lazy.

“Some people at Babson thought it was a comment on Babson, and it wasn’t at
all,” said Miller in a phone interview Thursday with the Globe. "It’s
not about any one place in particular.”

Miller, 31, taught history and rhetoric this past fall and is scheduled to
teach a media class this spring.

“It’s important for [students] to know I think everyone is an individual,”
grades them as individuals, and does not judge students based on whether
they are American or international, she said in an interview last week.

"All I was trying to say is that we [Americans] can all do a little better.