Examining Veritas

In Far Middle episode 184, Nick wishes all a Happy Thanksgiving before turning to the hardwood for the episode’s sports dedication to basketball legend Patrick Ewing. Born in Jamaica, Ewing moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 12 years old and became a dominant high school player. Nick reflects on Ewing’s stellar college career at Georgetown under Coach John Thompson. As a Hoya, Ewing played in three historic NCAA finals in 1982, 1984, and 1985. Nick then describes how Ewing ended up going to the Knicks as the first overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft. While Ewing is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist and 11-time NBA All-Star, he never won an NBA championship despite two Finals appearances. However, Nick notes he played during a tough time to win a title that included the Lakers’ “Showtime” era and the Bulls’ domination during the 1990s.   Nick then connects from Ewing’s time in Cambridge to Harvard University, the principal focus of the installment’s discussion. Nick begins by reviewing Harvard's recent policy change to refrain from taking official positions on controversial public policy issues. “That is quite the departure from what Harvard embraced prior, particularly with social justice and Israeli-Palestinian issues,” explains Nick. The conversation shifts to Bill Ackman, a Harvard alum and prominent hedge fund manager. Ackman recently applied his activist investor approach to evaluate Harvard as if it were a business opportunity. Nick describes the approach as both unconventional and genius. Ackman’s assessment, titled "Veritas?" (Latin for "truth"), assesses Harvard's performance across four key areas: exposure to diverse viewpoints, free speech, academic rigor, and a safe learning environment. Ackman's analysis reveals concerning trends at Harvard, including a lack of ideological diversity among faculty, poor rankings in free speech protection, grade inflation, and issues with creating a safe learning environment for all students. The episode also explores data on faculty growth and degree recipients across different departments at Harvard, highlighting potential resource allocation imbalances. “Universities are underfunding STEM and sometimes diluting STEM to the benefit of subsidizing certain liberal arts and social science programs,” says Nick. “And that's not what the economy needs in 2024 if we want to compete on a world stage.” Nick closes by drawing parallels between Harvard's influence in academia and the impact of Johnny Ray in the music industry. Ray, often considered the "father of rock and roll," set the stage for the genre in the 1950s and influenced many subsequent artists, despite being relatively unknown to modern audiences.