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| Africa North | |
| Harvard consultants aided Khadafy | |
| 2011-03-05 | |
But the 22-page proposal for a book on Khadafy was written by Monitor Group, a Cambridge-based consultant firm founded by Harvard professors. The management consulting firm received $250,000 a month from the Libyan government from 2006 to 2008 for a wide range of services, including writing the book proposal, bringing prominent academics to Libya to meet Khadafy “to enhance international appreciation of Libya’’ and trying to generate positive news coverage of the country. As the crisis in Libya deepens, Monitor’s role in Libya has come under increasing scrutiny. “The really nefarious aspect of this is that it reinforced in Khadafy’s mind that he truly was an international intellectual world figure, and that his ideas of democracy were to be taken seriously,’’ said Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor at Dartmouth College and author of “A History of Modern Libya.’’ “It reinforced his reluctance to come to terms with the reality around him, which was that Libya is in many ways an inconsequential country and his ideas are half-baked.’’ Yesterday, Monitor Group acknowledged in a statement that its paid work included helping Khadafy’s son Saif with his doctoral dissertation at the London School of Economics. The firm said that assistance and the book proposal were mistakes. But its statement stressed that the firm’s main effort was designed to help Khadafy’s dictatorship bring about change. Many of the firm’s internal memos had been revealed on a Libyan opposition group website in 2009. The fallout over relations between high-profile academics and Libya has already taken a toll. Sir Howard Davies resigned yesterday as a director at the London School of Economics, which said it would start an inquiry into the school’s ties with the Khadafy family. Professors sent to visit Khadafy included luminaries such as Joseph Nye, former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; Lord Anthony Giddens, former head of the London School of Economics; Francis Fukuyama political philosopher from Stanford University; and Benjamin Barber, who has written extensively about democracy. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #14 There are a lot of very useful federal grants awarded, P2K, many by DOD looking to seed future capabilities, or by NIH seeding future drugs or disease treatments. Many, if not most, of the grant recipients do legitimate and scrupulous science in my experience (and I've seen the process from the inside). The ones that don't deserve unmasking, ridicule, scorn and the end of their careers. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-03-05 19:28 |
| #13 "We know what's best for you. Unfortunately, we have the ethics of crack whores". Isn't that the motto of the Federal Grants program*? Come on, any one surprised? Can we type Man Made Global Warming? Yes we can. *Google translates that for the Latin as "Scimus quid melius fuerit. Miser habemus meretrices Ethica crack" |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-03-05 16:13 |
| #12 TU and Alan, those remarks are insults to all crack whores. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-03-05 15:47 |
| #11 Unfortunately, we have the ethics of crack whores". And the same taste in associates as well. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-03-05 13:30 |
| #10 Academia's nasty little secret. "We know what's best for you. Unfortunately, we have the ethics of crack whores". |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-03-05 13:01 |
| #9 Altogether they got upwards of $6 million in 2 years from the Qadaffis. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-03-05 10:00 |
| #8 Smart power! Although, if they can only wring a $250k out of an oil-rich megalomaniac dictator... |
| Posted by: regular joe 2011-03-05 09:55 |
| #7 RU Cereus, Money is a powerful drug, even in high academic circles. It certainly is. Especially if you have no resistence and no shame at being so addicted. These types are the Charlie Sheens of "public" intellectuals. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-03-05 09:12 |
| #6 Money is a powerful drug, even in high academic circles. |
| Posted by: R.U. Cereus 2011-03-05 08:57 |
| #5 Unfortunately this is a perfect example of the principles (or lack there of) of the cultured, intellectual elite that wants to run the world. I seem to remember another "world" figure whose Harvard credentials (NOT education) have been hidden from view by this same elite. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-03-05 08:51 |
| #4 Collusion at the other end of the dissertation, too. After all, it must not only be researched and written, but defended. A man who hasn't written the thing is not going to be able to defend it against a committee of professors who know what questions to ask -- and they all know what questions to ask. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-03-05 07:10 |
| #3 Harvard is the source of many good things, but some things, like this, are reprehensible and intolerable. I will voice my disgust. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2011-03-05 06:49 |
| #2 Common lotp, Saif is hardly the first to have his thesis written for him. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-03-05 04:54 |
| #1 Forget the stupidity re: geopolitics and the coziness with egomaniac dictators. What pisses me off is that these professors were complicit in the award of a fraudulent PhD. For that they should have their tenure revoked and their academic positions removed. I sincerely hope that some Harvard alumni make a lot of waves over this. Not holding my breath, given the massive Arab oil contributions to that place over the last decade. But hoping nonetheless. At a minimum, the rest of us should make it plain to all that the fact of Harvard faculty colluding to ghost write a doctoral dissertation for pay means the university as a whole is worthy only of contempt. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-03-05 02:57 |