Commentary: Harvard May Not Be the Hero We Want, but It Is the Hero We Need

April 25, 2025 1 min read

David French
New York Times

Excerpt: Like many of its conservative alumni, I have a complicated relationship with Harvard. I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, where I went to public school. I attended college at a small Christian university in Nashville. I never had a thought that I could attend Harvard Law School. But friends urged me to try. When I got in, it was so shocking that it felt miraculous. I knew it would change my life — and it did. It gave me some of my closest friends, it gave me career opportunities I couldn’t previously fathom, and it kindled in me a love for constitutional law. At the same time, the school had profound problems.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. In the 30 years since my graduation, the school has continued to change lives, and it has maintained one of the least tolerant cultures in American higher education.

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