What’s Wrong with the Intellectual Elites? (Spoiler Alert: Plenty.)

[Geee]

Issues & Insights

Little that goes on at America’s elite, “progressive” universities surprises us any longer, but every so often something so perfectly cockeyed, so wrong, commands our attention. The recent remarks of a Harvard dean are an example.

As described by Heather Mac Donald in a superb Wall Street Journal op-ed, Dean of Students Rakesh Khurana took the opportunity at graduation (“Class Day”) to make assertions that are uninspiring, callow, and, worst of all, wrong. This passage from Ms. Mac Donald’s article is illustrative:

“The ‘capitalist ethos,’ according to Mr. Khurana, tells us that ‘we deserve to win because of our skill, our hard work, and our contributions.’ Mr. Khurana — who is also a professor of business and of sociology — claimed to be mystified by that belief.“

Well, we are also mystified — by Mr. Khurana, who went on to rail about “structural inequities” such as “inherited privilege,” the supposed myth of the self-made person, and the meaninglessness of “deserving.” This sophomoric claptrap from a professor of business at Harvard?