I Really Never Want to Hear About Harvard Again

We would all be infinitely better off if the obsession with this one elite school ended.

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“Free speech” being “under attack” on college campuses has long been a rallying cry for the conservative media. But now, as Israel’s military assault on Palestine stretches into its 90th day, the terrain of the real battle against free speech is clearer than ever with Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation on Tuesday.

What’s also clearer than ever is the extent to which the obsessive focus on one elite school—the New York Times has posted at least 60 stories involving Harvard in just the last month—not only helped Gay’s tormentors, many of whom are some of the world’s most cynical bigots, achieve their goal of ousting her, but also served as a convenient distraction from the most important issue of the day: the mass killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel, armed to the hilt by the United States.

Given that, what’s clearest of all from this mess is that a hyper-fixation on Harvard is in nobody’s interest, including everyone at Harvard. So in that spirit, I offer this plea: let’s all agree to never talk about Harvard again.

For those who haven’t been following along (like me), here’s a sadly necessary recap.