Yesterday the US President lambasted Harvard University. He ordered its Federal funding to be cut. For those curious about the inner organizational workings of such places, the comments the President made as a Social Media Post weren't directed at the University as a whole. When one reads closely, he's particularly upset about former Democratic Party New York Mayor Bill De Blasio being appointed to a Visiting Fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Other appointments at the Kennedy School are also driving the President crazy. So who else is sitting in those ivory towers alongside the likes of Former Mayor De Blasio? New Zealand's Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, of course. She is also a Fellow of that School, appointed from 2024 to 2025. Her title is Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow. What did the US President say about the Kennedy School hiring the likes of Ardern? Here goes, "Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots & “birdbrains” who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students & so-called “future leaders.” .. these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard .. should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges".
We obviously do not condone the President's comments, but at the same time there's little doubt hiring controversial politicians has been a mistake for many universities, including Harvard, since it has undermined the core mission of those places, which should be an apolitical search for the truth. Our own Otago University knows all about this game, having handed its Vice Chancellorship to Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who is responsible for much of the economic stagnation we are now experiencing.