Harvard Ousts GOP’s Stefanik as Adviser Over Falsehoods on Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Harvard University’s Kennedy School removed Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik from a committee of the Institute of Politics after its dean concluded she made false statements about the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election.

Dean Doug Elmendorf said in a statement Tuesday that he and the director of the institute read public materials, listened to students and alumni, and consulted with colleagues about the status of Stefanik, a New York Republican and Harvard alumnus, on its senior advisory committee.

“My request was not about political parties, political ideology, or her choice of candidate for president,” Elmendorf wrote. “Rather, in my assessment, Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November’s presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect.”Elmendorf said her removal came after he asked her to step aside and she refused.

Harvard’s decision amounts to “bowing to the Far Left,” Stefanik said in a statement on Twitter.

After the violence last week, colleges have been asked by alumni and students to reckon with public officials’ role in condemning the election.

Two colleges voted to strip honorary degrees given to President Donald Trump in the wake of his actions directing the crowd to disrupt Congress during the certification of the Electoral College count.

Lehigh University in Pennsylvania took back the honor given in 1988 and Wagner College in the New York borough of Staten Island rescinded a degree awarded to him in 2004.