Two politicians that were emphatically rejected by their constituents have received faculty appointments at two of the nation’s most prestigious universities. It’s almost as if elite academics are extending the single digit salute to the voters of two of the country’s most progressive cities, San Francisco and Chicago, who apparently aren’t radical enough for to suit the rarefied tastes of academia’s summit institiutions.
First came the news that the law school at the University of California, Berkeley has appointed Chesa Boudin as “the founding executive director of Berkeley Law’s new Criminal Law & Justice Center”
As an official announcement of the appointment called the new center,
“…a research and advocacy hub to boost Berkeley Law’s public mission in the criminal justice arena. It will help foster research collaboration among faculty members and others, enhance law students’ training and practice opportunities, and strengthen connections between the university and the outside world. [emphasis added]
So, Boudin will be paid money from a taxpayer-funded institution to advocate – with the reinforcement of the labor of others and the prestige of the institution – for the policies that the voters of San Francisco emphatically rejected by a ten percent margin after experiencing their practical impact on their lives.
The university’s announcement describes what his constituents rejected once they experienced in their lives the real-world consequences:
As district attorney, Boudin eliminated cash bail, established a unit to reevaluate wrongful convictions, sought to increase police accountability, and lowered sentences for nonviolent offenses while calling for improved drug treatment and mental health services. He also implemented a diversion program for primary caregiver parents of minor children who were charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies, in accordance with a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law.
Boudin reeks of condescension toward the voters that rejected him with his promise to “engage with people doing deep thinking, not just sound-bite thinking, about what good policy should really look like.” As the old joke about politically-motivated academic research posing as science has it, “if you torture the data long enough, it will admit anything.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the nation’s oldest and richest university, Harvard, (full disclosure: where I spent nearly 2 decades of my life) is honoring with a faculty appointment another person emphatically rejected by voters after experiencing her leadership of their city, Chicago. Lori Lightfoot’s stewardship as mayor of Chicago was so disastrous that she came in third in the Democrats’ primary election and wasn’t even on the ballot in the runoff election.
The University’s official publication, The Harvard Gazette reports:
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been appointed as a Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow for the fall term at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
During her tenure as mayor, which ended May 15, Lightfoot led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to safeguard public health and minimize economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other steps, she created a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team and the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force.
Chicago’s first Black woman and first openly gay mayor, Lightfoot also focused on generating inclusive economic growth across the city’s neighborhoods. Her accomplishments included landmark ethics and good governance reforms, worker protection legislation, and key investments in education, public safety, and financial stability. In August of 2021, Lightfoot secured a $15 minimum wage for most workers in Chicago, including domestic workers, years ahead of the state’s planned phase-in of a living wage.
All very fashionable in the current Harvard environment, but completely unappealing to the people who had to live with the consequences of her ineptitude. The same as was true of Boudin.
Academia, now under the control of radical leftists, is strip mining the prestige built up over centuries, in order to push a political agenda that is highly unpopular, even in leftist strongholds. This has not gone unnoticed by employers, who are losing their previous reference for college graduates – the key factor impelling parents to make gigantic financial sacrifices to send their children to selective colleges, in particular, hoping to give them an advantage in obtaining satisfying and lucrative careers. The lates example: The Commonwealth of Virginia.
Virginia will eliminate degree requirements and preferences for nearly 90% of classified jobs — salaried positions subject to the Virginia Personnel Act — in line with a growing private sector trend that looks at experience and other training as well as degrees when hiring.
The change by the Richmond region’s largest employer will take effect July 1 for the roughly 20,000 openings the state advertises over the course of a year.
“This key reform will expand opportunities for qualified applicants who are ready to serve Virginians,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“This landmark change in hiring practices for our state workforce will improve hiring processes, expand possibilities and career paths for job seekers and enhance our ability to deliver quality services,” he said.
The nature of strip mining is that it leaves behind a ruined landscape that may or may not be restored to usefulness and beauty, but only at substantial cost. But at least strip mining produces something useful.