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Let's take a simple example to make clear the distinction. Michael Shinagel, who is dean of the Extension School and DCE, proposed recently to change HES diplomas to list the field of study instead of "Extension Studies". Both the Harvard faculty and College students (or at least, the UC) objected to such a measure, as it would create confusion between HES degrees and other Harvard degrees.
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Yes, and this is no different from all of the other political jockeying and infighting that goes on in Harvard. Each particular subdivision of Harvard jealously guards its turf. For example, when Harvard Business School wanted to create a doctoral program in information technology, the Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS) objected, saying that they either wanted to be intimately involved with such a project (because it was heavily tech oriented), or that HBS should drop the project. The compromise solution was that HBS and DEAS negotiated to create the interdisciplinary ITM (Information Technology & Management) PhD program.
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/itm/
The point is, no division at Harvard is going to want to let another division of Harvard intrude on its turf by creating confusion. DEAS didn't want to let HBS solely run a program that sounded like an engineering/tech program.
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Now, suppose that the proposal had been in the other direction: to change Harvard's policy so that HES degrees must be reported as "ALB, Harvard Extension School". Is it your claim that nobody at HES would possibly object to this, since all that they ever do in describing their Harvard affiliation is just an innocent reflection of whatever Harvard's policy happens to be? That's in effect what you've been claiming, and it is totally unbelievable. What is much more likely is that there would be an enormous level of opposition from HES students to such a proposal, as highlighting the Extension aspect would reduce the value of their degree.
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Of course! And I'm sure the same would be true if Harvard forced all of the GSE graduates to list their degrees as specifically coming from GSE - you would have plenty of opposition coming from GSE students. Let's be honest, a lot of GSE students are there just because they ride off the Harvard brand name. There's nothing wrong with that, that's just how it is. The same is true of KSG. The same is true of HBS with the exec-ed programs - I think there is little dispute that what the exec-ed programs are really selling is the HBS brand name. People want to go to the exec-ed programs mostly because they want to be able to SAY that they studied at HBS. That's why the exec-ed programs can charge so much money.
Look, the truth of the matter is, of ALL of Harvard's programs - whether they are the less selective ones like HES or GSE, or the most selective ones like HBS or HMS or HLS - plenty of students are just there because of the Harvard brand name. If Harvard didn't have that big brand name, fewer people in EVERY ONE of Harvard's programs would want to go there. So why single out HES on this score? Furthermore, like I said, there are some Harvard programs (i.e. GSE) that are less prominent than other programs, and hence you could say that ALL of the less prominent programs are riding off the the slipstream of the more prominent programs. So, again, why single out HES?