A rant about Harvard

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has stated that Harvard will no longer receive federal grant money, because it has “failed to abide by its legal obligations.” If one reads her statement, however, there is nary a legal obligation failure even alleged. Instead, she criticizes Harvard for offering an introductory math course at a supposedly rigorous university (this occurred in the two years following covid, when students missed many classes) and notes the plagiarism allegations that led to the resignation of the university’s previous president.

Towards the end of this statement, she notes the presence as fellows at Harvard of former New York mayor Bill DeBlasio and Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot as examples of Harvard’s bias towards Democrats.

These appointments took place at the Kennedy School, where I am a retired professor, so I actually know something about what actually happened. Every year the Institute of Politics, which is an organization mainly run by undergrads interested in elective politics, invites a group of usually five recently retired politicians to come for a semester. In 2022 DeBlasio and Lightfoot were two of those invited — along with the former head of the Wisconsin Republican Party and a senior Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee. One student active in the Institute of Politics as an undergrad was Elise Stefanik, now a Republican member of Congress from New York. I am seeing nothing fishy here.

One other thing: government announcements of the sort on federal grants that McMahon made would normally, as per the Administrative Procedures Act, be publicly announced in the Federal Register before promulgation, and opportunity given for people to comment on them. Needless to say, this did not happen here.

Linda McMahon’s job prior to her current position was as a wrestling promoter. Let’s just say it shows.