When Deans Talk Politics

The price of leadership is shutting up not kissing up

Recently, Lloyd James, the dean of Boston college School of public health, said the following about the Republican candidate for president, for whom he had previously served as an advisor.

“ I met President Trump in the hallway of the White House. He stopped what he was doing to speak with me. He was smart and engaging. On important policy issues, he asked tough questions. He also has a genuine warmth that is disarming. Overall, I think he's been an extraordinary leader and we are lucky to have him.”

Since then, a petition has been circulated for the dean to resign. It has been signed by over 1000 students and faculty at Boston college.

Of course, I'm kidding this scenario did not occur. You're not allowed to be the dean of a public health school and support a republican. You would have to resign. And yet, there's a double standard. Because here's what the dean of Brown University School of public health actually says

And, in case that wasn't enough kissing up. About President Biden he said.

Strangely, the only comment here about public health is inaccurate. The covid-19 vaccine was developed by the prior administration. In fact, had Pfizer not amended the protocol it would have been a success prior to the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration famously bungled the rollout. Following the advice of Anthony fauci, they provided two doses to fewer people rather than dose one to more people. Furthermore, incompetently, they prioritized young young medical students and residents, whose risk of covid-19 death was abysmally low. Over older people. The UK did not do this.

Elsewhere I will talk about Ashish Jhas strategy to rise, which is naked flattery, but here I wish to focus on his dual roles. How can one be dean of a public health school, and openly supporting one political party in the presidential election?

Furthermore, we all know, you cannot support the other side and be Dean. You would face calls for resignation, and I suspect they would demote you.

So how does Ashish get away with it?

It's easy to say public health is inherently political, and one might even try to argue that the Democrat’s policy is more conducive to public health. Unfortunately, this argument quickly fails if one reflects upon the most important decisions of the last 25 years. School closure, was a policy pushed in liberal cities, and Joe Biden explicitly ran on the platform that reopening schools was dangerous in 2020. Donald Trump was supporting a dangerous reopening, the Biden campaign fear-mongered. Although 100% incorrect, this message reached many people, and ruined the lives of millions of children. School closure disproportionately hurt black and minority students, the very people the Democratic party claims to defend.

The Democratic party was also the party of community masking, including children as young as 2. This also was contrary to evidence. And also contrary to basic common sense and human decency. Rochelle Walensky, a Biden appointee, famously lied in front of Congress and said she did not have equipoise to run randomized control trials. The mere fact that the European CDC and the US CDC disagreed was the equipoise she denied knowing about.

Here is a bizarre photo of an adult politician who is with a kid and only the kid masks. V sad and illogical. Anti science for sure. This was voluntarily tweeted however.

Prolonged lockdowns enforced by the police state was also a feature of liberal states. The largest multiverse analysis of this policy suggests it is largely incompatible with benefit, but worse, we will never know because it was rolled out in such a poor manner one cannot study it appropriately.

As such, the argument that public health is best supported by democrats is untrue.

What do I think the solution is? If you're a faculty member at the University, or you're a student, you're completely free to support whichever political candidate you want. In my opinion, if you're a doctor who takes care of patients, the more nakedly partisan you are, the more foolish you look. But that's just my opinion.

But when it comes to leadership there is a real tension. If your Dean is actively campaigning for one political party, how would you feel about them judging your promotion and tenure decisions? If a young faculty member at Brown University actually does support Donald Trump for president, is he allowed to say his opinion? Surely he would fear reprisal by the dean when the dean has to sign off on his letter for promotion.

You don't get to have everything in this world. You can be an average citizen, or you can wear the crown, but there are additional responsibilities that come from being dean. One of those responsibilities is not weighing in on daily political news like a cheap TV hack.

Ashish probably doesn't believe Deans should stay out of partisan politics because his partisan politics have gotten him ahead. During the pandemic, he allowed news outlets to quote him with the appearance that he was independently assessing the merits of the Biden administration. Later, he would admit, that he was on internal briefing emails, so he would know those decisions before they were public. When you are colluding with the administration, it's dishonest to portray yourself as an independent actor. Ashish didn't care, and he parlayed his ask kissing into a government position.

He also was more than happy to demonize any scientist who disagree with him calling them clowns among other insults.

I detailed that here. He also strangely said he didn't want to sit next to an unvaccinated person, when he knew that vaccinated people could also transmit the virus. That part was logically incoherent unless you just want to discriminate against people. As a doctor, it seems like that would be a foolish thing to say.

Dean's can weigh in on political figures as long as they support the right party. And as such academia becomes increasingly polarized. Ashish Jha likely views himself as a public health savior, someone who's helping, but he is the root of the problem we face.