Harvard (1636 - 2023) - Will Your Business, Law, Divinity or Even Undergraduate Degree Become a Liability?

It happens all the time: An institution (or human being) flies too high and too blindly and that's it. It comes down back to earth.

Sometimes, like GE, it can orchestrate a comeback.

Other times it may need to be saved such as Disney (by activist investors or being acquired).

Then there are situations, like Harvard, where the question is: Is this institution worth preserving? If it is it probably never will be "Harvard" again, at least not as it has dominated elite branding since it was founded in 1636 to train clergy.

Things don't look good for Harvard. Not at all. The pounding started indirectly. 

Over at alternate asset management firm Apollo CEO Marc Rowan held his hand over the donation button. He threatened to never to press down again unless his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania came down on campus antisemitism. 

Soon that Moment became a Movement.

Congress caught the vibrations.

The Penn president Liz Magill is out.

The one at Harvard Claudine Gay is not only on thin ice. In addition to what is perceived as inept handling of the antisemitism she is accused of more than 40 incidences of plagiarism. From the examples provided by the media, I would assess the way she presented information to be violations of ethical codes. As a former adjunct professor at the Universities of Michigan, Pittsburgh and Connecticut and a current professional editor I had dealt with these issues.

Whether Gay is “allowed” to stay on has become almost irrelevant. Right now, documents The Wall Street Journal, Harvard is backing her. The damage has already kicked in. It is bound to accelerate.

Already the university has lost about $1 billion in donations.

Applications for early admission fell by 17%.

The law firm which guided Gay's Congressional testimony - WilmerHale - is fighting for its branding life. 

A lot of law firms ranging from Sullivan and Cromwell to Paul, Weiss have threatened not to recruit law students from Harvard Law School, but Edelson already has done that. 

The gallows humor is nasty, such as bumper stickers features on professional anonymous networks gushing: “My kid didn’t go to Harvard.” British comic John Oliver can do to Harvard what he had done to McKinsey and Elon Musk.

What’s not a joke is that it could evolve into a liability to have a Harvard degree, of any type, or even the identity of a Harvard Dropout (which I had been and now might find it smart to keep under wraps). Will Harvard alumni take on the protective coloring of a state university or, better yet, the community college?

That anti-elite ethos can spread and win elections, just as it did for Richard Nixon. General election year 2024 could be quite interesting when it comes to the memes.

Here is my Short Short Fiction about a reflection from the future on being employed in elite Big Law. 

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).