<p>[The</a> Brown Daily Herald - Watson’s Kennedy '76 abruptly quits post](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/watson-s-kennedy-76-abruptly-quits-post-1.1775425]The”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/watson-s-kennedy-76-abruptly-quits-post-1.1775425)</p>
<p>Michael Kennedy is the new head of the Watson Institute.</p>
<p>I hope Brown isn’t in danger of exhausting its supply of Kennedys!</p>
<p>I remember reading an article in the Brown Herald about David Kennedy being controversial…I think he was trying to start a mini-law school or something that the faculty were none too fond of.</p>
<p>The rumors were basically that he was hiring a lot of friends/colleagues from his law school academic credentials and pushing the institute away from what it was. The fear about starting a law school was unfounded, the real fear was that in “correcting” a relative lack of legal scholars from his perspective and going much too far.</p>
<p>Honestly, I just think that he took on too much. VP of International Affairs was a big job and he did a lot of work on that front. To do that while continuing to teach would be enough, but when we lost the director of Watson right as Kennedy came in and he had to play that role as well, well, that becomes way too much for one man to do. My guess is he got burnt out from it all and left now that Watson has a director this way we weren’t totally high and dry.</p>
<p>He was somewhat controversial, but I think it is because he was an outsider coming in with grand ideas for some change/improvement, and he was a legal scholar entering the realm of many traditional academics who were wary/cautious of him since he was a presidential appointment to whom they all suddenly had to answer. Like the article says, his position, when he occupied it, was an additional barrier for Watson to go to in order to get to the higher ups. All of these things made it not a great spot to be in.</p>