Harvard Prof Who Insulted Harvard Extension School to Own Chris Rufo 'Asked to Clarify' in EPIC Walkback
http://twitchy.com/coucy/2024/01/12/jennifer-hochschild-n2391705
Do you remember the other day when everybody on the 'intellectual left' was diminishing the value of a degree from the Harvard Extension School (HES) as a weak attempt to stick it to Conservative writer and professor Christopher Rufo, who has boasted in the past of having received his Master's Degree from Harvard despite having attended HES? They were all so gleeful to diminish Rufo by diminishing one of the institutions from which he earned a degree that none of them stopped to think about what this implied about the students that had earned their degrees there and the value of the institution itself... not to mention what it might mean to Harvard, who has in the past advertised a degree from the HES as being a 'Harvard Degree.'
If you were keeping up on this as it played out you may have noticed that one of the people who jumped into this frenzy of denigrating the institution was Jennifer Hochschild, who is herself a teacher at the Harvard Extension School. At the time it appeared that she must not value her employer much since she was happy to diminish the quality of the students there and, implicitly, her employer itself in the name of dunking on Chris Rufo:
Jennifer hochschild (@Jenniferhochsc2) ~ 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.
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Readers added context
The Harvard Extension School is a fully accredited Harvard school. Their degrees and certificates are adorned with the Harvard University insignia. Their graduates walk at University Commencement and become members of the Harvard Alumni Association.
http://extension.harvard.edu/about/#:~:text=We%20are%20a%20fully%20accredited,of%20the%20Harvard%20Alumni%20Association
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'You know, HES students are fine and all but they're ... lesser' seems to be what she decided to go with here. Wouldn't you just love to take a class from her?
Yep ... this simply proves this Hahvaad "professor" is a ridiculously clueless nitwit. Absolutely. No. Common. Sense. ROTFLMAO!
Shortly after her post went viral people started pointing out that if a degree from HES wasn't a 'real' Harvard degree that would be news to the people who earned a degree from HES and were, at the time, under the impression that it was a Harvard degree. Talk began to swirl about potential lawsuits in the future:
Flo (@Bswan1697) ~ I expect Bill Ackman to get in on this and set up a potential lawsuit with Harvard extension school graduates.
John Carter, Esq. (@martianwyrdlord) ~ Cool, cool. So the Harvard brand is false advertising? Looking forward to the class action lawsuit from everyone who attended the extension school.
Was this talk something that needed to be taken serious? Well, given what's happened now, we can most likely assume the people at Harvard were taking it seriously, because Prof. Hochschild today began back peddling from her previous position as fast as she possibly can it looks like.
UH OH ... did "Professor" Hochschild get herself into some hot water over her imprudent remarks that most definitely besmirched her own college and left it open to possible litigation???
Jennifer hochschild (@Jenniferhochsc2) ~ I was asked to clarify, and am glad to do so: HES courses are Harvard U courses (often the same as in FAS, as for my courses). HES bachelor’s and master’s degrees are Harvard U degrees. HES is a school in Harvard U analogous to other schools. HES students are Harvard U students.
She 'was asked to clarify' huh? It doesn't take Hercule Poirot to figure out who it was that likely 'asked' Hochschild to clarify her position here. This is a massive comedown from her previous position - one that seems likely to only have come from someone with the power to give her her walking papers. In other words, if our money was on the line, we'd bet she got called on the carpet by the Harvard Corporation Board (and the legal department was probably on the line too).
Christopher Rufo was quick to do a victory lap in her replies:
Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) ~ This is awesome. You dumped on your own school in an attempt to delegitimize my degree, then turned around and said it is, in fact, a wonderful, rigorous, and bona fide Harvard degree. You made a fool of yourself not once, but twice. That takes commitment.
Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) ~ Amazing: The Harvard professor who trashed Harvard Extension School is now furiously walking it back, declaring that HES is absolutely part of Harvard, that its classes are often the same as those in the more prestigious faculties, and that its degrees are full Harvard degrees.
Who doesn't love schadenfreude when its at the expense of someone who's made themself your enemy?
Damin Toell (@damintoell) ~ You got a talking to, eh?
Peter Henlein (@SwissWatchGuy) ~ Is that really a clarification ... or the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you said a few days ago?
THAT was a complete reversal.
Jason_FLMAN (@jason_flman) ~ Somebody in doing the backstroke. Just apologize and admit you were wrong.
It's a rare person who's willing to come down all the way to an admission of being wrong, and we're not going to hold our breath waiting to find out if Professor Hochschild is that rare person because ... she's probably not.
Bleu Cheque (@VERBAL_CHANCLA) ~ “I’ve been informed that HES graduates are alums that donate money too.”
eigenrobot (@eigenrobot) ~ Extremely reading from a prepared statement while two masked men in fatigues stand directly behind you holding rifles voice ...
Heh heh heh heh heh.
Arturo Boremano (definitely NOT “Arthur Boreman”)
(@ArthurBoreman) ~ Watching Harvard professors utterly beclown themselves in the service of insulting Christopher Rufo is equal parts hilarious and depressing.
Jon Gabriel (@exjon) ~ Why do superior "real" Harvard grads keep getting owned by lowly Harvard Extension School grads? At some point, people who claim to be elite need to show some evidence.
This is an epic faceplant by someone who by educational pedigree would normally be considered by much of society to be 'smarter' than the rest of us. In her haste to use her position at HES to provide heft to the argument that Rufo wasn't worthy of being associated with Harvard, she made an absolute fool of herself and, one has to think, perhaps made some at Harvard begin to question whether she is worthy of being at Harvard.
Nah, given Harvard's recent track record on hiring decisions and the way they allow their student body to act on campus she probably fits right in.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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