Saeb Erekat is an excellent choice to teach students how to prevent the achievement of peace - by Mitchell Bard

Yes, Harvard students can learn a great deal from Saeb Erekat. The rest of us have discovered how little value Harvard places on scholarship, morality, and honesty. 

 

Mitchell Bard.. 

Algemeiner.. 

10 September '20.. 

 The standards of academia continue to slide, as “academic freedom” and tenure have increasingly been used to shield faculty from accountability. The result has been widespread abuses that include the substitution of propaganda for scholarship, the misuse of the classroom to promote personal agendas, and the normalization of antisemitism on campus. 

 Some people may believe universities are interested in education, but they are even more interested in money. It is therefore not surprising they are solicitous of Arab states and individuals who have donated more than $5.1 billion dollars to influence their curricula and faculty. Harvard has raked in more than $100 million. 

 The sellout of academic values is exemplified by Harvard’s acceptance of $1.6 million from the “State of Palestine.” Could it be a coincidence that, in a case study of the university’s decline in standards, it hired Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, to mentor students and give virtual seminars as a fellow in The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs? He is among the new fellows who faculty chair Nicholas Burns said “will strengthen our capacity to learn the lessons of effective diplomacy and statecraft.” 

 One hardly knows where to begin in digesting this astounding example of moral and academic myopia. Given that Burns was among the peace processors with a career history of failure at the State Department, it may not be surprising that he would choose someone to teach diplomacy who has also been a failure as a negotiator. 

 If Harvard is interested in teaching students how to prevent the achievement of peace, they have picked the right man. 

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