Foot In Mouth Disease

(Foot In Mouth Disease)

At times, people just say things that are so stupid that consequences ensue. That is the case of the now former Harvard President Claudine Gay, out after only six months. She, and two other university heads, were unable to say with a straight face that genocide of the Jewish people was a bad thing or that such an incident needed to be placed in a broader context.

It is something realized as how Gay got to be Harvard's Chief in the first place. She was no great scholar and what work she did generate was largely plagiarized. How then could she have risen to the head of the most prestigious University in the land ? Like Vice President Harris, Claudine Gay "checked" all the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion boxes.

This political correctness run Amuk. Artificial standards get established and consequences can ensue if "violated," Gay's termination has naturally been blamed on racism. No less a figure than Referend Al Sharpton complained that Gay is out because she is a black woman who broke a glass ceiling. The reality is more mundane. Since the controversary began, Gay has cost the University about a billion dollars.

Acronyms have come to dominate. It is not just DEI but it is also ESG. That stands for Environmental and Social Governance. This thinking is not limited to higher education but in corporate board rooms as well. There is the feeling at BlackRock and Disney and others. Does one need to be reminded of the Bud Lite disaster ? What had been a simple department of human resources is now being populated by new hires who collectively are woke, fully embrace DEI and ESG, and expect those in the front office to conform.

However, being on these crusades for the environment and social justice interferes with the conduct of normal business. That could adversely affect stock prices. There might be such a thing of an "activist investor" but by and large, people buy shares in a company for a return. A monetary return.

With any system of conduct, there are supporters but over time it will gain detractors as well. With the absurd case of Claudine Gay and how she damaged Harvard's reputation, as well as the other schools that need to place things in context, regardless of how absurd that is. DEI and ESG do not have a moral basis. There is constant equivalency and no judgments as to what is right and what is wrong. And that, is just wrong.