Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s rant against Harvard University for apparently corrupting young girls stands in stark contrast to the many conservative personalities who call it their alma mater.
Duffy, a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Minnesota, which boasts a 92% acceptance rate, raged against Harvard, objectively one of the top colleges, if not the top, in the U.S., as he spoke with his daughter, Paloma, about her college options.
His views are explained in the Duffy family’s six-part docuseries “The Great American Road Trip,” which was uploaded on the official DOT channels and features Duffy, his wife, Fox & Friends weekend co-host Rachel Campos Duffy, and several of his nine children traveling on a noncontinuous trip across the United States.
Duffy, 54, attempts to dissuade his daughter Paloma, 18, from attending Harvard University as the family prepares to head to Boston. Duffy asserts that people who go to so-called liberal colleges, Harvard included, become “perverted and contorted.”
“They have professionalized, figuring out how they can take good, young girls like you, and I think corrupt their minds,” Duffy tells his daughter in their kitchen as dramatic music plays in the background.
“You don’t have to believe what I believe; you don’t have to have the political viewpoints that I have, but I do think it’s important that you make those choices for yourself, and you have a fair representation of what they are,” he explained. “And I don’t think the Harvards of the world give you that kind of well-rounded picture.”
Paloma pushes back on her father’s argument, saying, “I went to an extremely conservative school in high school. And I’m a part of an extremely conservative family. And if I go to a liberal setting, that’s a way more rounded education.”
She later says in the confessional she feels like she has “the maturity” to pick the college that she wants to attend and “hopes” her parents see that too.
Rachel also offers some of her own words of wisdom, saying she always told her children, “My job isn’t to get you into Harvard—it’s to get you into heaven.”
But Duffy’s comments stand in stark contrast to several prominent Catholic conservatives, including Duffy’s fellow Cabinet secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Other prominent Harvard conservative alumni include Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, the late conservative justice Antonin Scalia, and Avery Dulles, a prominent conservative faith leader.
Later in the episode, when the Duffy clan arrives in Boston, they visit the campus, where they meet with the on-campus chaplain, Father Nathaniel Sanders, who attempts to calm their fears that Paloma will be corrupted if she attends the Ivy League institution.
He boasts that he believes that Harvard has the best Catholic college community in the country, as he explains that the on-campus church will see 80 converts to the faith.
“I’m really grateful for what God is doing here,” Father Sanders says of his congregation.
Rachel then explains that she and Sean offered Paloma a list of parent-approved colleges, as they thought, “Why are we giving our money to people who hate us?” and that is why Harvard, which, using deductive reasoning, apparently hates them, is not on the list.
Father Sanders attempts to calm their nerves about that, saying there is nothing “nefarious” going on on-campus.
“You come here because it’s the best opportunity, and if someone has a sense of themselves and a sense of God before coming, I think that would only flower,” he explained.
Rachel later admits in the confessional that she “didn’t want to like the situation [at Harvard] as much as she did.”
Later in the series, it is revealed that Paloma will attend the University of Chicago, the same school her older sister, Evita, attended.
It appears bashing Harvard is now an official stance from the U.S. government, as Duffy’s “Great American Road Trip” series has been posted on the official Department of Transportation YouTube feed.
The project was funded by private donors, including industry groups that Duffy’s department oversees, like Boeing and Toyota, which each shelled out $1 million. Other sponsors include United Airlines, Shell, Royal Caribbean, Enterprise, and Lyft.
The start of each episode includes a lengthy disclaimer explaining that the reality show was paid for by the sponsors and was not made using taxpayer dollars, even as it has been uploaded on official feeds.
