On Thursday, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she would be taking a teaching role at one of the nation’s most prestigious universities. Lightfoot will become the Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard, and will teach a course tentatively titled “Health Policy and Leadership.”
Other former mayors, such as New York’s Bill de Blasio and Boston’s Kim Janey, have previously served as Menschel Senior Leadership Fellows. Lightfoot became eligible for the position after becoming the first incumbent Chicago mayor to lose since Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, was ousted in 1983.
Lightfoot announced her acceptance of the position on Twitter.
“I’ve always loved teaching, and the opportunity to get back to it is something I am excited about. Looking forward to sharing the experiences and perceptions I learned governing through one of the most challenging times in American history with the @HarvardChanSPH community!” the former mayor wrote
The Harvard Gazette boasted of Lightfoot’s public-health acumen as they welcomed her to the campus.
“During her tenure as mayor, which ended May 15, Lightfoot led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to safeguard public health and minimize economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Gazette noted. “Among other steps, she created a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team and the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force.”
The dean of the university’s public-health school welcomed Lightfoot as well.
“I’m delighted to welcome Mayor Lightfoot to Harvard Chan School as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow,” said Michelle A. Williams, Dean of Faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “As mayor, she showed strong leadership in advocating for health, equity, and dignity for every resident of Chicago, from her declaration of structural racism as a public health crisis to her innovative initiative to bring mental health services to libraries and shelters. And of course, she led the city through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Also during her tenure as mayor, Lightfoot went to war with city employees over the Covid-19 vaccine, which she unilaterally mandated as a necessity for employment. Public employees, including police and firefighters, who refused to comply with the mandate were placed on unpaid leave.
Lightfoot also oversaw rampant violence and an increase in murders in the Windy City, refused to take questions from white reporters for a time because of what she termed an “absence of diversity across the City Hall press corps,” and went to get a professional hair styling after demanding that Chicago residents stay at home in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She also declared racism a public health crisis.
“At almost every point in our city’s history, sadly, racism has taken a devastating toll on the health and well-being of our residents of color, and particularly those who are black,” Lightfoot said at the time. “Without formally acknowledging this history and reality, and the continuing impact of that infamous legacy, looking at the root causes of today’s challenges, we will never be able to move forward as a city and fully provide our communities with the resources that we need to live happy, vibrant, and fulfilled lives.”
Still, somehow, Harvard sees Lightfoot as someone to trust regarding “Health Policy and Leadership.”
Only in the leftist institutions of America can someone be incredibly ineffective in regard to a specific subject, repeatedly botch public initiatives relating to it, and then be asked to teach a high-level course on that subject.
