A professor from Harvard, who taught there for four decades, has publicly announced his retirement, criticizing what he sees as a “woke” and anti-white, anti-male environment. He expressed discontent with changes made by the university following the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests.
Professor James Hankins described his retirement decision as something he didn’t take lightly, noting it was made during the fall of 2021 after nearly two years of enduring what he termed “arrogant” restrictions related to the pandemic.
Hankins also mentioned that his choice to leave was influenced by Harvard’s response to the George Floyd riots, which he claimed significantly altered the graduate admissions process at the university.
In his essay, titled “Why I’m Leaving Harvard,” published in compact magazine, he recounted a particular incident while reviewing graduate applications in the fall of 2020. He encountered an exceptional candidate who fit their program perfectly.
“In past years, this applicant would have topped the list,” he elaborated. “Yet, in 2021, a member of the admissions committee privately informed me that admitting white males would not be acceptable that year.”
He provided another instance involving an “excellent” student, who claimed to have achieved the highest academic honors at the university, but was “rejected from every graduate program” he applied to. “He happened to be a white male,” Hankins pointed out, mentioning that he tried to find out the reasons behind this unfair rejection.
His inquiries revealed that multiple graduate admissions committees were consistently implementing the same unspoken guideline. “The only exception I observed was for individuals who transitioned from female to male,” he remarked, suggesting that only those applicants would be considered acceptable.
Hankins criticized a past decision to abolish Harvard’s “two-book requirement” for faculty members, stating that it was instigated by “feminist activists” who demanded that at least half of new faculty positions go to women.
He noted that this push for “equality” often involves lowering the standards, especially remembering that historically, women have held less than 10 percent of PhDs.
He asserted that feminists denied this was occurring and instead blamed men for the inability to properly assess women’s academic contributions.
Hankins and his colleagues who voiced their concerns were labeled “sexist,” and he observed that it resulted in a higher number of junior faculty members than ever before, likening it to Congress attempting to control its budget.
He concluded that these changes at Harvard contribute to the moral and intellectual confusion seen in younger generations today.
“When liberal education replaced teachings of Western civilization with a broader world history, it did real damage to the cultural upbringing of American youth,” he stated. “If we fail to educate young people about what civilization is, they risk becoming uncivilized.”
