As someone who has a great deal of respect for academia, my opinions on the administrations of many average and top universities has declined significantly. In the last month or so.

Sadly, probably not in practical terms.

Even if someone is angered by their actions, the employers are unlikely to hold it against those holding degrees, it isn't their fault.

Meanwhile the jobs that only would accept Harvard or similar ivy League won't care about why they didn't actually get the degree, they just see that a degree was not from their precious "Harvard". This may be a hard requirement or just a massive advantage branding wise for your university.

If this weren't the case, Harvard couldn't charge so much to attend, no one would pay.

So maybe if withholding the degree came with a big refund for all the money spent for the diploma they refuse to give, but as it stands....

I'd rather doubt it. They worked really hard to get into and graduate from Harvard, there's a reason they got into that school. There's a reason they got a degree there. It was probably their dream. It was an accomplishment they could be proud of, and one they knew that would help further their dreams in the future. To suggest they could just get one anywhere else is dickish.

Thank you for the correction. Yes with all the talk of the commencement I wondered... but this article updates & confirms it.

which essentially means that I am a student not in good standing and will not be allowed to get my degree

In short, they’re being held back for at least a full year.

Which means they will have to pay for another year of tuition. This sounds like it's going to work out pretty well for Harvard's bottom line.

Thank you for sharing your perspective. Tbh I never even considered that as a possibility, though you could be right - we'll see what happens.

I fucking sue you know how much it cost to go to Harvard.

Thank you - THIS Is the kind of detail I have been wanting to know. The college will not simply "delete" their grades for the prior 4 years, so being placed on probation is quite a significant hardship, but less than if that were to happen. Do you happen to know if they would simply get their degree one year later, or have to be "re-admitted" to Harvard again for that to happen? (my guess is the former, or even if the latter then a streamlined re-admission process proffered)

So this sounds like "introducing a delay in getting their degree" process, rather than "banning them from ever receiving a degree from that institution for life" one.

The article mentioned someone who gets to keep their Rhodes Scholarship even, so definitely people are sympathetic, and I wonder if the main harm from all of this will fall onto the institution of Harvard itself.