Harvard's Kennedy School of Government rescinded a visiting fellowship offered to Chelsea Manning, the former military intelligence analyst who spent seven years in prison for leaking classified government secrets, after the university faced forceful backlash from CIA Director Mike Pompeo among others.
"I now think that designating Chelsea Manning as a Visiting Fellow was a mistake, for which I accept responsibility," Douglas W. Elmendorf, the school's dean, wrote in a 700-word statement released shortly after midnight Friday.
Manning was one of four visiting fellows announced two days earlier by the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. As part of the program, visiting fellows appear on Harvard's campus for speaking engagements and events, interacting with undergraduate students on "topical issues of today," the school's initial announcement explained.
Elmendorf decided to withdraw the invitation after realizing that "many people view a Visiting Fellow title as an honorific," though the school had not intended to "honor [Manning] in any way or to endorse any of her words or deeds."
The Establishment called.
Harvard University invited Chelsea Manning to be a visiting fellow, but withdrew the invitation after CIA Director Mike Pompeo wrote:
The students there are now owed an institution that acts responsibility; an institution that does not sanction or legitimize the criminal path Ms. Manning took to undermine our national security.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 16 2017, @04:41PM
what a lying weasel piece of shit! of course the "Visiting Fellow" is honorary. why else would they be honorarily associated with the university. it's supposed to be an honor and that's always been the case and everyone in the country with half a brain knows that. this stupid fucker doesn't even evaluate his lies for reasonableness. that's how much shit this fucking rat gets away with every day. No, you're just a fucking whore who figured you could wheeze off manning's publicity while at the same time showing how tolerant you were of "transsexuals", but you're so dumb you didn't know how much shit you would catch and since you have no backbone that's a big problem for you. fuck you.