Has Harvard Lost Their Minds?
Our higher education institutions are in need of a wellness check...
My latest for Redoubt
Since its founding in 1636, Harvard University has been regarded as America’s premier institution of academic excellence and the gold standard of education.
For centuries, their prestigious reputation has attracted the world’s brightest minds, offering graduates a pathway to many of the best jobs our country has to offer including eight separate US presidencies. From Teddy Roosevelt to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Harvard played an integral role in nurturing some of the greatest minds in history.
Despite all of this, any high school dropout with subpar vision can see that things at Harvard are not okay.
Their recent behavior is akin to watching an academic institution suddenly decide to emulate scenes from Lord Of The Flies or Edward Norton in Fight Club when he punches himself in the face repeatedly. If Harvard were a loved one, we would have them committed to a mental institution out of fear they are suicidal, and in need of serious help.
Following the recent terrorist attacks committed by Hamas, the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a press statement blaming the Jewish state for the atrocities that unfolded. 34 separate student groups co-signed the letter saying that Israel “is the only one to blame” in an incident that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people including the lives of 29 Americans.
When one thinks of Harvard, the first things that come to mind are a mixture of the brightest minds in the country and the Ivy league imagery of a Ralph Lauren catalog, making it hard to imagine that an institution that defines American excellence and privilege would align politically with a terrorist group. All of this raises the question, what is causing Harvard students to hold such radical beliefs?
Well, we could start by looking at their current course catalog.
A breaking report from Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo shows that Harvard launched a course in 2021 to “Decolonize Harvard'' led by a nonbinary Latinx academic with they/them pronouns who claims that Harvard is a settler-colonial, genocidal, and eurocentric institution that must be decolonized and would no longer be recognizable after the process was completed. Have they lost their minds? Yes, you read every last word of that correctly - Harvard is currently paying someone to teach a class to decolonize and ultimately dismantle itself.
After Harvard began to take heat for expressing solidarity with the actions of Hamas terrorists, a dozen prominent CEOs banded together and promised not to hire any of the Harvard students who signed the letter. Even this was still not enough for Harvard to back down.
Harvard President Claudine Gay doubled down after this incident, claiming "Our university embraces a commitment to free expression. That commitment extends to views that many of us find objectionable or outrageous." As we all would agree, freedom of speech is one of America’s most important values, which would lead one to believe her statement is a respectable answer, only if it were true. A recent report from thefire.org ranked Harvard an impressive 0/100 when it comes to free speech on campus, proving their president’s noble support for the first amendment to be nothing more than gaslighting.
Harvard’s deep institutional rot doesn’t stop at their recent support for radicalism, but can also be found in their recent hires, all of whom further illustrate their departure from things like truth, merit, and excellence. The recent hiring decisions involving Mayor Bill de Blasio, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Brian Stelter raise serious questions about the institution's priorities, forcing us all to wonder if a commitment to progressive ideology is now the only thing that matters in the halls of higher education.
While all three of these individuals are indeed notable names within mainstream politics, you would be hard-pressed to find people on either the left or right who would describe their professional track records as worthy of being championed. In fact, consensus across the aisle is that all three failed to do their jobs. Not one of them were guided by the oaths they swore or moral commitments to telling the truth, but appeared to be guided by their true north-star – their shared belief in far-left radical politics.
Trust in mainstream media is at an all time low, and both Chicago and NYC are currently plagued by crime, looting, and disorder not seen in decades. Deblasio, Lightfoot, and Stelter all played integral roles in getting us here.Two of America’s greatest cities were destabilized under their leadership, while Stelter spent his days convincing the general public that things were going great and we should worry more about the dangers of conservative media.
Despite the good years that occurred during Bill de Blasio’s tenure as Mayor, history will remember him as being the mayor who failed to rise to the occasion in NYC’s darkest moment since 9/11. Ceding the city to looters and instructing the NYPD to stand down during the George Floyd riots will forever be remembered as a stain on American history.
Truth be told, the good years of his mayoralty had nothing to do with his ability to lead, but were the results of being handed a highly functioning city by his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.
His approach to governance left constituents from all walks of life in agreement that quality of life declined during his two terms as Mayor, an era where we lost our handle on critical issues such as crime, inequality, and homelessness. By extending a teaching position to de Blasio, Harvard appears to be rewarding his radical beliefs despite the harm he caused to NYC.
Similarly, Mayor Lori Lightfoot's appointment to a teaching position at Harvard raises eyebrows considering it was clearly not based on her performance. While Lightfoot was campaigning to keep her job during the 2022 election, Chicago was approaching its third year in a row of a historically high murder rate that had not been reached in 25 years. With murder rates averaging between 700-800 per year, Chicago once again earned the title of murder capital of America under her leadership. By granting her a position at Harvard, the institution sends a message that it values leftist ideology over effective governance.
Brian Stelter's inclusion on this list is particularly offensive given his dismissal from CNN over concerns surrounding his credibility as a journalist. The damage created by Stelter harms not only our cities, but the country as a whole. It brings into question Harvard's position on fundamental principles such as “is it even important to tell the truth?” Harvard's decision to offer him a teaching position stands at odds with thier commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity. By extending this opportunity to Stelter, the university risks compromising its own credibility and diminishing the value of its educational offerings, simultaneously tarnishing the reputation of our country.
Ask yourself the question: Does anyone seriously believe that Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot are smart enough to teach at the best school in the world? If presented with Harvard level tests, does anyone think they could pass them? Then why on earth would these same people be qualified to teach there?
Only one answer remains, and that is that Harvard is no longer interested in remaining the gold standard of education, but now serves as a breeding ground for left wing radicalism, and a soft landing pad for the movement’s most prominent fallen soldiers.