Sean Spicer’s Harvard fellowship included 11 events in three days, all off-the-record: Report

Sean Spicer’s visiting fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government has come to an end, and practically everything President Trump’s former spokesman told students was off the record, according to the school’s newspaper.

Each of the 11 events held at Harvard during Mr. Spicer’s three-day fellowship were either closed-door forums, invitation-only get-togethers or private gatherings closed to the general student body and public, The Harvard Crimson reported Friday.

“Not a single word Sean Spicer spoke during his Visiting Fellowship at Harvard was on the record, nor could a single word could be heard without an explicit invite,” wrote master’s student Daniel C. Drabik.

“This was Sean Spicer’s secret Harvard fellowship. All of us should push the School to not allow this level of secrecy for a Fellow again,” he wrote.

While events featuring visiting fellows are typically off-the-record, according to Harvard’s website, several students who participated in events featuring the former White House press secretary spilled the beans for a recent Huffington Post report.

“The entire thing was just a defense of every waking moment he served,” said a student who attended a question-and-answer event starring Mr. Spicer, the Huffington Post reported last month.

“I learned that the media was not misrepresenting him in how they were talking about him six months ago,” a student said. “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.”

Mr. Spicer, 46, served as White House press secretary for roughly six months before resigning in July. He previously worked as communications director for the Republican National Committee and is also a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics announced on September 13 that it was offering visiting fellowships to Mr. Spicer; Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sylvester James Jr.; Democratic operative Robby Mook and previously incarcerated WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning.

Public backlash prompted the school to rescind Ms. Manning’s invitation the following day.

“Sean Spicer has something to contribute to American policy,” and “you can’t really bring that to the table,” Douglas Elmendorf, the dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, allegedly told Ms. Manning in rescinding her invitation, she recalled previously.