Democratic Senator John Fetterman has thrown his support behind former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s candidacy for the presidency of Harvard University.
As an alumnus of Harvard, and after this mad season of antisemitism at Columbia, I co-sign.
This former Governor of Massachusetts doesn't need a paycheck, but Harvard and its academic peers needs to recalibrate from far-left orthodoxy. pic.twitter.com/eaT0F5VaiR
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) April 22, 2024
Fetterman (D-PA), a Harvard graduate, endorsed an op-ed in The Washington Post advocating for Romney’s (R-UT) suitability for the role, stating, “Harvard is in an almighty mess. Let Mitt Romney clean it up.” The op-ed, penned by David Rosen, writes of Romney’s capacity for bridge-building and his ability to end Harvard’s “age of toxic polarization.”
“As an alumnus of Harvard, and after this mad season of antisemitism at Columbia, I co-sign. This former Governor Massachusetts doesn’t need a paycheck, but Harvard and its academic peers need to recalibrate from far-left orthodoxy,” wrote Fetterman on social media platform X.
The endorsement comes in the wake of Harvard’s outgoing president Claudine Gay’s resignation over allegations of plagiarism and a backlash over how she handled antisemitism on the campus. Harvard hasn’t found a permanent president since December and has had Alan Garber, a Jewish physician and economist who formerly served as provost of the college, step in as interim president.
Daniel Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, wrote of Harvard’s disappointing handling of antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. Rosen says that Romney has what it takes to drive necessary reforms for engaging in the open discourse students need, stating, “I make this suggestion in the sincere and robust hope that he is someone who can navigate the university through painful but necessary reform.”
Romney, like Fetterman, is a Harvard alum, having graduated from Harvard Law in 1975. He is currently serving as the junior senator for Utah, however he will be retiring from the office once his term expires in 2025 with his next endeavors open to speculation.
Rosen writes, “As we saw with the disastrous congressional testimony of then-President Claudine Gay, leadership matters…The university president must be the flag-bearer of our values. There is no doubt that there are other Americans of similar standing and stature, but Romney’s unique bridge-building character is precisely what Harvard needs in an age of toxic polarization. A Harvard alumnus, he is an eloquent and experienced administrator who has consistently demonstrated his political independence in defense of what is right, rather than what is expedient.”
Despite the endorsement and speculation surrounding Romney’s candidacy, neither Harvard nor Romney has officially commented on the matter.
