Fox's first appearance — Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday — two leading academics say this marks a catastrophic failure of the left-wing orthodoxy that has consumed higher education in recent decades. Ta.
“What we are seeing here is an example of the ultimate corruption of our nation's most elite institutions,'' said former U.S. Ministry of Education Secretary William Bennett told Fox News Digital.
Bennett also noted that damage to the nation's oldest and perennially most prestigious university could have ripple effects on broader society.
Ivy League school founded to promote virtue and divinity has 'drafted rapidly' and forgotten its roots
“Americans do not need to be any more disappointed in the institutions they once respected.”
Bennett, who studied at and taught at Harvard Law School, is now pessimistic about the school's ability to restore its reputation.
Former Education Secretary William Bennett told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he believes Harvard University's Claudine gay scandal could have a negative impact on broader American society. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
“Will Harvard recover? Yes. Will it recover? No. These problems are too deep,” he said.
Gaye was hired with great fanfare in 2022 as the first black woman to head Harvard University. But her resume fell far short of the traditional accomplishments of her job, critics argue.
The Ivy League school's newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, suggested that Gay's resignation would end the shortest tenure as Harvard's president in the school's history.
“Will Harvard recover? Yes. Will it recover? No. These problems are too deep.” — William Bennett to FOX News Digital
Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, told Fox News Digital in an interview last week before Gay resigned, “We once had a Harvard president who was America's leading figure.'' I was looking forward to it,” he said.
Following the announcement, Hanson said on Tuesday: “In the words of Churchill, Harvard first had to choose between scandal and disgrace.Harvard chose disgrace, and now it has scandal.'' “It will happen,” he posted on X.
Claudine Gay testified before Congress about anti-Semitism on college campuses in December 2023, but she refused to condemn it. (Getty Images)
Bennett agreed that Harvard's president “was once the most respected position in this country.”
Gay became the focus of a national controversy in December when she refused to condemn anti-Semitism on Harvard's campus during a parliamentary inquiry.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigns amid anti-Semitism and plagiarism controversy
“This is unfortunate,” Bennett said. “She gave vague statements to questions that had clear answers, but then we found out that she had plagiarized nearly 50 times.”
In the spotlight that followed, it was revealed that Gaye's academic achievements were limited and that he was accepted despite publishing a paper that lavishly copied the work of others.
According to a story told by William Bennett, when President Theodore Roosevelt tried to contact Charles Elliott, the chief executive of Harvard University, he was told, “I'm going to make you president.'' This story speaks to the prestige that Harvard University once enjoyed. (Getty Images)
Mr. Bennett shared anecdotes that illustrate the power and prestige that the position once enjoyed.
“There is a story that the president said. [Theodore] “When Roosevelt wanted to talk to Charles Eliot, he would call Harvard,” said Bennett, the school's president.
“The secretary would answer the phone and say, 'Hold on, Mr. Roosevelt. I'll make you president.'”
“We once expected the president of Harvard University to be America's leading scholar.” — Victor Davis Hanson to Fox News Digital
Bennett said the director was simply reminding the U.S. commander-in-chief “who he was looking for.”
In Gaye's case, Harvard initially defended her despite mounting charges of plagiarism, euphemistically calling her act “duplicate language.” As Fox News Digital previously reported, Harvard University said it found two examples of “duplicate language without proper attribution” in Dr. Gay's 1997 doctoral dissertation.
Victor Davis Hanson of Fox News. “She was an affirmative action hire,” he said of Claudine Gay, who just resigned as president of Harvard University. (Fox News)
“Affirmative action adoption”
Both Bennett and Hanson were hired by Gay on the basis of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) considerations, which today have replaced meritocracy in all areas of education and society. said that it was done.
“She was an affirmative action hire,” Hanson said last week. “In America, we have lost the tradition of people of any class, of any race, of any ideology being judged on the marketplace of ideas based on their performance.”
Introducing Francis Bellamy, the American who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance and became a collaborator of some of the nation's top teachers.
He said on Tuesday's It will only strengthen the growing consensus that: It has given up even the veneer of meritocracy. ”
Bennett blamed the hiring of gays on “the abnormal racial consciousness of universities today. Special consideration is given to race in admissions procedures, hiring, and even the appointment of presidents.”
Recently, protest trucks were touring Ivy League campuses demanding Claudine Gay's dismissal from Harvard University. (Fox News Digital)
“We no longer hire people based on merit, and that's becoming pervasive throughout society,” Bennett said.
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Despite accepting Gaye's resignation, Harvard's Board of Trustees appears to have continued to focus on racial issues.
“The question I get asked all the time by parents is, 'Is it worth going to Harvard?'” The answer is no, I don't think that's the case anymore. ” — William Bennett
The board's statement said: “Some of it was played out in public, but much of it took the form of offensive and in some cases racist vitriol directed at her through disgraceful emails and phone calls. “I'm taking it,” it says in part.
Claudine Gay (left) resigned as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, January 2, following a controversy that tarnished the reputation of one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious universities. Former U.S. Department of Education Secretary William Bennett (right) told Fox News Digital that this is “an example of the ultimate corruption of our nation's most elite educational institutions.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
“I am extremely disappointed and embarrassed by this,” Bennett said. [Harvard has] Become. I didn't go to Harvard University. ”
He added, “The question I get asked all the time by parents is, 'Is it worth going to Harvard?'” The answer is no. I don't think that's the case anymore. The luster that Harvard University once enjoyed is now fading. ”
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In a letter to members of the Harvard community, Gay said he was stepping down as president but intended to return to Harvard's faculty despite the plagiarism allegations.
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