Elite American universities have prided themselves in offering students an opportunity to be instructed by world-renowned leaders, and for most of American history, universities sought out leaders who exemplify and advocate the freedom and democracy the country was founded upon. But now, these universities are bringing on leaders who have pushed to close businesses, shutter schools, and lock down the economy all in the name of public health.
Based on recent moves by elite colleges, higher education in America appears to look up to a public servant’s expertise and reliability not by how they fought for freedom, but by how they fought to stifle it in the name of COVID. And soon, COVID authoritarians will be walking the halls of America’s elite universities.
Jacinda Ardern
The former New Zealand prime minister shocked the world by stepping down from her position in January. Three months later she was appointed to two fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School: One as the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and another as a Hauser Leader in the school’s Center for Public Leadership.
“Jacinda Ardern showed the world strong and empathetic political leadership,” Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf said. “She earned respect far beyond the shores of her country, and she will bring important insights for our students and will generate vital conversations about the public policy choices facing leaders at all levels.”
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The fellowships will place Ardern on Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the fall of 2023. In one of the fellowships, the Hauser Leader in the School’s Center for Public Leadership, Ardern will help students and faculty with their leadership skills.
Ardern became the youngest female head of government when she took office at 37 years old in 2017. Just three years later, the leader faced a pandemic and took a no-tolerance approach to dealing with COVID by enacting some of the harshest measures in the world.
Ardern kept the island country’s international borders closed for nearly two and a half years, and even after opening its borders in August of 2022, New Zealand still required visitors to be fully vaccinated. The prime minister was unapologetic in her vaccine authoritarianism, admitting what many U.S. leaders were afraid to say. During an interview in October 2021, Ardern smiled when she said her vaccine mandates were basically creating two classes of citizens.
“So, you’ve basically said, this is gonna be like, well it’s almost like, and you probably don’t see it like this, [inaudible] two different classes of people, if you’re vaccinated or if you’re unvaccinated,” an interviewer said to Ardern. “You have all these rights if you are vaccinated–”
“That it is what it is,” Ardern quickly responded with a smile. “So, yep. Yep.”
When the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked by a reporter if she was creating two classes of people, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, Ardern confirmed stating, "That is what it is, yep". pic.twitter.com/mY6cQBCFzX
— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) October 24, 2021
In August 2021, a full year and a half after COVID spread across the globe, Ardern shut down the entire country for three days after one man tested positive for COVID. Many criticized Ardern as an authoritarian leader bent on dividing New Zealand and granting more rights to citizens who follow her mandates, but Harvard considers her a “strong” and “empathetic” leader worthy of influencing the next generation of America’s public policymakers.
Lori Lightfoot
Former Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be joining Ardern in the halls of Harvard this fall after she was named a Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the university’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Lightfoot doesn’t have a background in public health, but she does have one qualification on the topic that Harvard believes warrants her inclusion: her COVID response. Specifically, her COVID response that closed schools and businesses — similar to that of her leftist counterpart from New Zealand.
Harvard Dean Michelle Williams said that “as a mayor, [Lightfoot] showed strong leadership in advocating for health, equity, and dignity for every resident of Chicago.”
Eric Andersen, the director of the Senior Leadership Fellows Program, added, “as mayor and as a leader she faced many pressing public health issues, most notabl[y] navigating the pandemic. We believe our students will benefit from her experiences, insights, and knowledge of leadership decision-making.”
Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images
During the pandemic, Lightfoot strongly pushed COVID mandates regarding masks and vaccines. At the beginning of 2022, the mayor required restaurants, bars, gyms, and other establishments to enforce vaccine requirements for staff and customers, including children older than five years old.
During the course of the pandemic and her mandated lockdowns, Lightfoot was caught breaking the very rules she and her Democratic friends in the state capital set in place. In April 2020, Lightfoot was seen getting a haircut after salons and barbershops were forced to close. The Democratic mayor had a reason for her decision, but it doesn’t appear to have been influenced by her “strong leadership in advocating for health.”
“I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye,” she said.
Then in October 2021, while indoor mask mandates still ruled Chicago, the mayor was seen at a WNBA game without a mask on. A photo posted to Twitter shows Lightfoot celebrating maskless in the middle of a large crowd who all appear to be donning the COVID cloths.
What a moment.
Congrats champs! 🎉
A first but not the last for @chicagosky. pic.twitter.com/YdPx1A6011
— Archived: Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@mayorlightfoot) October 17, 2021
While Lightfoot was praised by many, especially those on the Left, for her leadership during COVID, the Illinois Labor Relations Board found that the mayor cut some corners when implementing her vaccine mandate for city employees. The board overturned the vaccine mandate, finding that she failed to negotiate with labor unions as required by law. The city was ordered to hire back employees it had fired for refusing the vaccine and be repaid for lost wages and benefits.
The authoritarian measures and apparent hypocrisy of Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t stop Harvard from giving her “regular office hours to meet with students, faculty, and staff during her time on campus.”
Anthony Fauci
The former head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony Fauci, will be joining the faculty of Georgetown University in the fall. The prestigious university announced Monday that Fauci will join the school’s Department of Medicine as a “Distinguished University Professor,” Georgetown’s highest professional honor. Beginning on July 1, the 82-year-old doctor will be a part of the Division of Infectious Diseases, which provides clinical care, conducts research, and trains future physicians in infectious diseases,” according to a Georgetown press release.
“We are deeply honored to welcome Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a dedicated public servant, humanitarian and visionary global health leader, to Georgetown,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “Dr. Fauci has embodied the Jesuit value of being in service to others throughout his career, and we are grateful to have his expertise, strong leadership and commitment to guiding the next generation of leaders to meet the pressing issues of our time.”
J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty Images
In December, Fauci stepped down after working for nearly four decades as the director of the NIAID, which falls under the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci worked in the federal government for 54 years after joining the NIH in 1968 during the Lyndon Johnson administration. He went on to advise seven presidents, influencing public policy decisions for decades.
The doctor irked many Americans when he flip-flopped on mask guidance, advocated business and school closures, and made questionable statements under oath about alleged federal funding of the Wuhan lab.
Fauci initially told Americans during the early days of the pandemic that they should not wear masks and then, a few months later, explained why the mask guidance changed. Fauci faced intense backlash after he said under oath before Congress that NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research” at the Chinese lab where many speculate COVID likely leaked from. However, documents obtained by The Intercept appear to show that the NIH did fund gain-of-function research at the lab, contrary to Fauci’s testimony.
In November 2021, Fauci responded to Republican critiques of his job, saying that detractors were really “criticizing science, because I represent science.”
Fauci deflected blame after many in the scientific and public policy communities looked back over the course of the pandemic and realized that many of the strict measures enforced to “slow the spread” damaged Americans, especially children in education, in numerous ways.
When asked by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl if it was a “mistake” to close schools, Fauci responded, “I don’t want to use the word ‘mistake,’ Jon, because if I do, it gets taken out of the context that you’re asking me the question on,” Fauci said. “We should realize, and have realized, that there will be deleterious collateral consequences when you do something like that.”
“They always say ‘Fauci was responsible for closing schools.’ I had nothing to do [with it]. I mean, let’s get down to the facts,” he added.
Whether or not Fauci was responsible for closing schools didn’t seem to affect his pension, which was the largest in U.S. federal government history, or his new position as a “distinguished” professor at Georgetown.
Georgetown and Harvard will be welcoming these COVID authoritarians with open arms to teach at their campuses in the fall of 2023, ensuring their influence reaches the minds of American students who will then seek to lead the country for years to come.