Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse writes that “the nation’s top private universities remain delusional about the dozens of reasons a large and growing share of the public distrusts them.” What’s mildly funny about this is that as is the case with so many prominent conservatives, Sasse is a graduate of one of those private universities allegedly distrusted by the rest of us, Harvard.
It raises a question: does the typical American really care about Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other schools like it as Sasse alludes? Or is most of the hysteria about Harvard and the rest being drummed up by people like Sasse who once again attended Harvard? The speculation here is that it’s the latter.
It brings to mind a conversation with George Will from years ago. After asking the Trinity College grad about a well-known political type on the right (it wasn't Sasse), he replied among other things that “he’s a 60-second Harvard man.” If you’re scratching your head, you won’t be for long. Odds are you know a 60-second Harvard man. Perhaps you are one.
60-second Harvard men let you know within 60 seconds (but usually much sooner) that they attended Harvard. To which some might say I’m betraying Will’s confidence. Fear not. The conservative portion of the U.S. political class then and now is dense with Harvard men. And if not Harvard, schools in its category. Yes, conservatives were largely educated by the schools they now claim in horrified fashion are ruining the minds of "others."
A conservative Yale graduate once told me everyone at Yale thinks they’ll be president someday. With good reason considering how many presidents attended Yale. Notable about the five who attended a school long said to be dominated by left-wing students and professors (William F. Buckley, another Yale grad, published God and Man at Yale in 1951), four were Republicans. The fifth: Bill Clinton. And it’s been said about Clinton that his presidency was Ronald Reagan’s (Eureka College) third term. The main thing is that the politically ambitious more often than not attend schools like Harvard and Yale.
Yet conservatives from the Ivy League have made sport of bashing where they come from. The rot, the racism, the indoctrination by inflexibly left-wing professors, the “fear” of exposing one’s conservativism. It’s all a little bit ridiculous, and the reason why it’s ridiculous can once again be found in all the conservatives who attended the schools said to be so reflexively hateful of conservatives.
It’s just a bet that upon visiting Harvard, skeptical individuals would probably be surprised by how normal it is, including lots of Republicans. Sasse laments grade inflation of the 4.0 variety in these elite schools, but considering the global competition for the very few seats available, it’s only logical that grades would be very high. As so many grads of elite schools are known to say within 61 seconds, “I couldn’t get in to” Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford "today."
In addition to normalcy, visitors would notice extraordinary ambition. That's because kids mostly go to college to get jobs, Harvard kids most notably. Something about Harvard being a door-opener with employers, including many employers who attended Harvard. Much like the profit-motivated grads they’re eager to hire, prosperous Harvard alums were similarly not irretrievably warped by all the alleged awfulness that conservatives claim is the norm in Cambridge and beyond.
Which presumably answers the question about what’s behind the alleged national “distrust” for Harvard and its similars. There’s not as much as Harvard grads like Sasse say there is. Most probably don’t care. Those who care are the ones who more often than not are conservatives who attended Harvard, or its adjacents, and who are looking for yet another way to tell you that they did.
