On today’s Morning Joe, MSNBC contributor regular Pablo Torre, a Harvard alum who comments on sports and politics, denied that Harvard is “merely a hotbed of liberalism.”
Torre’s one bit of evidence in support of his claim was that the basic economics course at Harvard used to be taught by an economic adviser to President Reagan. The course is now taught by someone who quit the GOP in protest against Trump, and is a global warmist who advocates carbon taxes.
In saying that Harvard is not “merely” a hotbed of liberalism, Torre apparently meant that the university is not exclusively liberal. And he’s right! After all, this 2022 survey found that a mere 80% of the faculty described themselves as “liberal” or “very liberal.” Only 1% of respondents stated they are “conservative,” and no respondents identified as “very conservative.”
And even those lopsided numbers likely understate the imbalance, as they encompass all professors, including the STEM faculty, which tends to harbor a few conservatives. Separate statistics are unavailable for Harvard’s Arts and Sciences faculty, but it’s fair to assume that where politics and related subjects are taught, conservatives are scarcer than Charlie Kirk fans at a Harvard College Democrats party.
I’m reminded of when, some years ago, I collaborated with members of the Ithaca College Republican Club to study the political party registration of faculty members. We found that the Political Science department was devoid of even a single Republican. Confronted with our findings, the department chairwoman snidely responded that there was great diversity among her department members, with professors running the gamut from liberal to Marxist!
Another measure of the hotbed of liberalism that is Harvard is the political donations by members of the faculty and governing boards. As per this Harvard Crimson article [emphasis added]:
“94 percent of political contributions from Harvard affiliates went to Democratic candidates, with the majority going toward Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.”
Not surprising that Torre is unable to recognize the overwhelmingly liberal waters in which he swam at Harvard, because Torre himself is a liberal. Among other things, Torre has criticized moves to prohibit men from competing against women in sports, written that “America has a legitimately terrifying gun problem,” and accused the Trump administration of having “disappeared” someone identified as a gang member.
Note: There’s nothing new about the liberal leanings of the Harvard faculty. As William F. Buckley, the founder of modern conservatism, famously said some 60 years ago:
“I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.”
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBCMorning Joe5/30/256:41 am EDT
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Pablo, you, of course, you did attend Harvard. Talk to us about what you have seen there the last few days, but also what those international students bring to campus, bring to the intellectual life. We played at the top of the hour the university president sort of leaned into the idea of students there being from around the world, drew a huge ovation. It’s an intrinsic part of that culture.
PABLO TORRE: Yeah, I mean, look, there’s so much to criticize about Harvard, if you want. And that’s a fair conversation. It also embodies, for a lot of people around the world, the American dream. I’m a first-generation American, parents from the Philippines. This was the whole thing about this country. You go and get the best education in the world. You pay through the nose or you get financial aid, and it’s all worth it.
The scene, though, and I’m talking to people on campus all of the time, the scene on campus right now is fascinating. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is giving speeches at Class Day, and then a couple miles away, is this courtroom where this is happening, in which the campus is, you know, it’s frankly galvanized.
And Harvard, by the way, you know, it’s not merely this hotbed of liberalism. As I have told you, John, the most popular class at Harvard is always introduction to economics. And for decades, it was taught by Reagan’s chief economist, Marty Feldstein, who taught me the principles of economics.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: And look what that did to you.
TORRE: I mean, it gets a real, I got radicalized, clearly.
