Commentary: Can Harvard Remain Nonpartisan in Trump’s America? Yes and No

Mathias Risse November 26, 2024 1 min read

Mathias Risse
Harvard Crimson

Excerpt: Last Tuesday, Kellyanne E. Conway, a senior adviser in President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration, spoke at a forum at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Conway is perhaps best known for explaining away lies about Trump’s first inauguration crowd size as “alternative facts” in 2017. Back when she made those remarks I had been teaching political philosophy for 17 years and had never felt it necessary to abandon nonpartisanship in my teaching. But I took issue with Conway’s alternative facts right away, and I did so in the classroom.

In the face of a Republican party that, regardless of what it has gotten right, has subscribed to a cult of personality and returned to power on a story anathema to democracy itself, can Harvard remain nonpartisan? Yes and no.

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