From our Bureau of Praiseworthy Quixotic Gestures with some assistance from our Bureau of Seemingly Impressive But Ultimately Meaningless Ivy League Summer Workshops That Grant Certificates to Reprehensible Oligarchs From Murderous Dictatorships
Aaaah, the joy of being a Castronoid oligarch! And, o, the anguish of being a Cuban at an Ivy League school!
Status-obsessed Castro, Inc. lawyer Lourdes Dávalos León somehow managed to enroll in a workshop at the Harvard Business School last summer. Such workshops issue “certificates” that ostensibly prove some newly-acquired expertise in some narrow subject. Such workshops are also very, very expensive and hardly ever grant any financial aid.
What’s the value of such certificates? They add luster to the resumé of anyone who completes the workshop, which is usually everyone who enrolls. On the surface, they are status symbols, pure and simple, but in reality they’re not much different from the gold stars affixed to finger paintings by kindergarten teachers.
Naturally, golden girl Lourdes was attracted to one such scam and obtained her certificate. A Harvard certificate, and a Harvard cap with which to pose for Instagram and Facebook photos. Such baubles go well with $3,000 handbags and the $25,000 tuition bill for the workship.
Well, praise the Lord, some Cuban students at Harvard are asking that her certificate be revoked. Wonderful move, worthy of applause. Now, let’s see how the administration of Harvard Business School responds to their praiseworthy request. But we all know what that response will be, for certain. Silence. 97% of the faculty at Ivy League schools tend to love Castro, Inc.
From Diario de Cuba
The group July 11 Movement for a Free Cuba, made up of Cuban students from Harvard University, has requested that a certificate granted by the Business School of that academic institution to lawyer Lourdes Dávalos León be repealed, due to her role as one of the defenders of the Cuban dictatorship in the unpaid debt trial taking place in London this week..
Regarding the complaint that is taking place in the Royal Court of Commerce and Business of England, the movement points out on Instagram: “It has come to our attention that one of the members of the regime’s legal team received a certificate from the Business School of Harvard last summer.”
Dávalos León herself shared on her social networks the fact that she managed to complete the Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision-Making program at the Harvard Business School.
“People like Lourdes Dávalos León have no place on our campus. A campus that is made up of many Cuban refugees and who have had political prisoners in their families. It is really discouraging to see the reality of the Cuban people at this very moment and at the same time to see the complete lack of remorse of those who benefit from this dictatorial regime,” the group says.
According to the Cuban students, they will write “a formal letter to the Harvard Business School, since this person does not represent the fundamental values of truth and justice” of the American university.
“Our unequivocal support for the Cuban people continues stronger than ever,” they affirmed.
Of course Harvard Business School will ignore it if at all possible, and they certainly won’t revoke the certificate, for which she duly paid. Technically, there is no legal ground for revoking it. Yes, there are moral grounds, but that would only work if this involved a politically incorrect or woke-averse figure.
However, if nothing else, this trial has shone a light on some very shady characters, to put it mildly, who may like a certain kind of attention, but not the kind they’re getting.
This reminds me of a letter sent by the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA) to the president of Duke University to protest a glamorized depiction of Che Guevara as “heroic,” which featured prominently in an art exhibit there in 2019. Cuban American Duke alumni also sent protest letters to Duke’s president. Maybe there was some sort of pro forma response, but nothing substantial was done about the matter, and I’m sure Duke never admitted wrongdoing. See https://bit.ly/407FzEr and https://bit.ly/3WFddi3
My response to the Harvard students in question is thus the same as my response to CABA’s letter:
Good luck with that, but don’t hold your breath. Offending “those people” is “normalized.”