How much are Harvard students enjoying having Sean Spicer around campus? Not a whole lot, apparently.
The former White House press secretary is now a visiting fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he’s “engaging students in discourse on topical issues of today,” as the school puts it. But based on what students told the Huffington Post, Spicer’s pearls of wisdom have been, uh, severely underwhelming so far.
“He’s incredibly inarticulate, so it was really difficult to take any sort of notes,” one student said about Spicer’s lectures.
During his time serving President Trump, Spicer was known to make an odd comment or two, including his reference to Nazi death camps as “the Holocaust center.” His persistent defense of the president, along with his habit of chewing an exorbitant amount of gum each day, helped inspire Melissa McCarthy’s rabid impersonation on “Saturday Night Live.”
But in the eyes of students, his stint at Harvard has done little to wash him clean of the widespread sentiment he was a shill for President Trump.
“I learned that the media was not misrepresenting him in how they were talking about him six months ago,” another student told HuffPost. “I was kind of expecting him to be better than how he was portrayed through the press, but he was pretty much just as slimy and weaselly as I’d thought he was.”
Day three of great discussions @HarvardIOP #iopfellows #harvard #harvardiop pic.twitter.com/syWPEShBwu
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) October 19, 2017
Two students paraphrased some of Spicer’s sessions, including his rationale for pushing things he knew were not true: “I’m a spokesperson for the president, and my job is to say what he wants me to say.”
As you’d expect, Spicey’s presence on campus has drawn a bit of buzz on social media.
Student Michael Auslen shared on his Instagram the trick to getting an off-the-record conversation with Spicer was deciding to leave journalism.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bab_cv3HIHp/?taken-at=18625593
And not everyone seemed to mind having the ex-public servant in Cambridge.
“One of the biggest lessons I learnt at [Harvard Kennedy School] is to listen,” posted Ekram Ibrahim. “Especially to those I disagree with. Everyone has a back story that is worth sharing. ”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BacKkSPBdGJ/?taken-at=18625593