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Less than two weeks after winning back the White House, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated several Harvard affiliates to cabinet-level positions in his next administration.
Some of Trump’s most controversial picks have ties to Harvard, including Peter B. Hegseth, a Harvard Kennedy School alumnus picked to lead the Department of Defense, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76, a vaccine skeptic tasked with helming the Department of Health and Human Services.
Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 has been tapped to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — a top foreign policy post — and Vivek G. Ramaswamy ’07 was nominated to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a yet to be established advisory body tasked with reducing bureaucracy in the federal government.
Despite the large number of alumni nominated to serve in Trump’s administration, some Harvard professors expressed concern about the appointees, questioning their experience and Trump’s rationale for nominating them.
Government professor Jennifer L. Hochschild wrote in an email that “Mr. Trump is proposing two types of inappropriate Cabinet-level officials.”
“Those with views who have no knowledge of what they are talking about (Hegseth, Gabbard etc), and those with views who have incorrect knowledge about much of what they are talking about (RFK Jr., Burgum etc.),” Hochschild added. “I am not sure which is more dangerous, and more disrespectful to the nation at large — his supporters as well as his opponents.”
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy’s nomination comes after his failed 2024 presidential bid, which was run under the slogan “Make America Healthy Again.” Before dropping out of the race, Kennedy agreed to endorse Trump in exchange for a prominent role in his administration.
The son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy ’48 who was assassinated while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, Kennedy was denounced by four of his siblings after launching a third-party bid for the White House in April 2023.
Kennedy, who has no health-centered education, drew criticism during the Covid-19 pandemic for his vaccine skepticism. He has pledged to remove fluoride from U.S. public water and ban food dyes and additives.
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While Stefanik is the most prominent Harvard critic to be nominated to cabinet-level position, Hegseth notably wrote “RETURN TO SENDER” across his HKS diploma live on Fox and Friends during a segment about critical race theory being taught at the University.
Hegseth was also accused of sexual assault shortly after Trump publicly confirmed his nomination. In 2017, Hegseth paid a woman who had accused him of sexual assault as part of a non-disclosure agreement, but denied any wrongdoing and maintained the encounter was consensual.
Steven J. Kelman ’70, a professor of public management at HKS, expressed concern over Hegseth’s ability to oversee the “very complex, difficult, hard-to-manage” Defense Department.
“The Secretary of Defense should not be an ideological as nearly as much as he is,” he said. “I’m worried that the management of the department will be ignored or undervalued in favor of the pronouncements and ideological statements.”
Kelman, a frequent Fox News viewer, described Hegseth’s views as “somewhat bizarre.”
“I watch him a lot. One of his big, major themes is about how ‘woke’ generals are destroying the military,” he said.
Matthew Bunn, a professor of national security at HKS, critiqued Hegseth’s lack of experience in government.
“Putting a weekend TV host who has never managed anything larger than a platoon in charge of an organization with 3 million employees is a recipe for disaster,” Bunn wrote.
“The choice of Hegseth confirms that President-elect Trump fundamentally does not understand the difference between his experience leading a family business and the challenges of managing large, complex organizations,” he wrote.
In addition to his other nominations, Trump selected Harvard Law School alumnus William O. Scharf to serve in the White House as assistant to the president and staff secretary.
Harvard Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 did not express confidence in the nominees put forward by Trump.
“President Trump is assembling a set of nominees who seem more skilled at trolling than at governing,” he wrote. “Whether or not the Senate takes its advice and consent role seriously will be the first test of the resilience of U.S. institutions in the face of a President who is somewhere between hostile and disinterested in them.”
Despite criticisms of the individual cabinet nominations, some professors referenced that conservative nominees countered claims of Harvard being a breeding ground for liberal ideology.
“Harvard, despite whatever tilt it may seem to have on the conservative to liberal spectrum, has a pretty balanced track record of elevating voices in every shade of opinion,” wrote HKS professor Sheila S. Jasanoff ’64.
“This roster speaks against the ideological homogenization charge that is too often levied against Harvard,” she wrote.
Still, other Harvard professors sought to create some distance between Trump’s cabinet nominees and their alma mater.
“Harvard should not be held responsible, nor take special pride, in how graduates later manage to mangle their lives and careers,” wrote Marvin Kalb, a professor emeritus at HKS.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
