CHANGE: Harvard President Wants To Improve Diversity, Will Actually Visit Trump Country.
Harvard University wants to improve the diversity of its student body, and its newest president, Lawrence Bacow, is even willing to take an extreme step to recruit underrepresented minorities for the Ivy League school: he’s going to Trump country.
According to the Boston Globe, who reported on Bacow’s vision for one of the nation’s most prestigious schools over the weekend, Bacow “is out to shed Harvard’s image as a Northeast enclave for the country’s elite.” To do that, he’s ramping up Harvard’s outreach to the midwest, Rust Belt, and the flyover states. . . .
“The world has changed,” Bacow told the Globe. “We are well-represented already along the coasts. I’m not sure people in the part of the country where I grew up appreciate as much what institutions like this contribute to their welfare as well.”
It’s certainly an effort to applaud, though free speech advocates will be watching Harvard’s outreach program (and the subsequent culture shock) with keen interest. The Ivy League school isn’t a bastion of inclusion, at least when it comes to having center-right ideas.
What’s really sad is that it’s news when Harvard’s president leaves the coasts. But if Bacow’s really serious, he should do a ride-along with Salena Zito and Brad Todd.