Harvard professor apologizes after denigrating extension school students in attempt to discredit Chris Rufo
A Harvard University professor apologized after saying that graduate students enrolled in the school's extension program are "not the same" as traditional graduate students.
A Harvard University professor apologized after saying that graduate students enrolled in the school’s extension program are “not the same” as traditional graduate students.
Harvard University professor Jennifer L. Hochschild made a Jan. 4 post on X, claiming that conservative activist Chris Rufo misrepresented his degree.
”On Rufo: what do integrity police say about his claim to have “master’s degree from Harvard,” which is actually from the open-enrollment Extension School? Those students are great - I teach them- but they are not the same as what we normally think of as Harvard graduate students,” Hochschild wrote.
After facing fierce criticism from the public as well as others at Harvard, Hochschild apologized for her posts to the Harvard Crimson. The comments were originally made after Claudine Gay resigned as president of the institution.
[RELATED: Congress launches investigation into Harvard’s handling of Gay’s plagiarism problem]
The Harvard Extension Student Association didn’t name the professor, but according to the Harvard Crimson, it responded to Hochschild’s comments.
“Although the professor attempted to backtrack on her statements, the initial message conveyed a different sentiment, one that undermines the value and reputation of our institution,” the Harvard Extension Student Association wrote. “Generalizations that denigrate HES students do more than unjustly diminish individual achievements; they erode the foundational values of diversity, respect, and academic rigor that are essential to the fabric of Harvard University, and all of its degree-granting schools.”
In an email to the Harvard Crimson, Hochschild said: “I am sorry that my comments were understood to imply a ‘sentiment . . . that undermines the value and reputation of our institution,’ and that they caused HES students and staff distress.”
“That is far from my views; Harvard is rightly proud of the quality of and access to education manifested every day by HES,” she wrote.
The professor added that HES students show “gumption, commitment, passion for learning, desire to use education in the service of their job or family or self.”
”My point, which was clearly phrased badly in the original tweet, was that students should proudly state their HES degree,” she wrote. “I have apologized to HES staff and students for inadvertently involving them in a silly debate (of course an HES degree is a real Harvard degree—who said otherwise??) and in an inappropriate challenge to what they should be proud of.”
