Harvard Graduate Poetry Classes Still $250 Per Class for Teachers.Epstein Connections

[eriehiker]

As the Eptein files saga has progressed, I became interested in a little sidenote.  Apparently, one of Epstein's closest associates was Lawrence Summers, the former Secretary of the Treasury.

Larry Summers

Well, Summers was also President of Harvard at one time and is married to Elisa New, a professor of English, most especially poetry.

Elisa New

Several years ago, New's Poetry in America series of classes was a bit of a rage on this board because it was possible to take five different courses in poetry at the Harvard Extension School for $250 each.  That is $62.50 per graduate credit.  This was a steal and I took all five courses for a total of 20 graduate credits in English for $1250.  I am a high school English teacher and this qualifies me to teach dual credit classes.  Following this, I moved to a different state, took a different job and now teach AP English classes as part of my schedule.  AP does not require 18 graduate credits to teach, but this made me the obvious choice for the spot.

Well, as the Epstein files have dripped out, it appears that the Poetry in America series and New appear in the Epstein files and both Summers and New traveled to Epstein's island.

Epstein Connections

Epstein's foundation even gave $110,000 to New's poetry initiative.

I really cannot say anything bad about the classes themselves.  They were about the cheapest graduate credits in English that a person could take anywhere and they really do appear on a Harvard transcript.  I enjoyed them, learned a lot and benefitted from them.

And, surprisingly, as I looked into this, it appears that Harvard still offers a scholarship for teachers who want to take the classes at $250 per class.  I told my co-worker about this and he is signed up for next semester and was approved for the scholarship.

It is still a great deal.  It's so good that there must be something funny going on.

Harvard Extension

Link with Teacher Scholarship Application

[SteveFoerster]

Plot twist: the courses are all about dirty limericks....

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Plot twist: the courses are all about dirty limericks....

Trump and Epstein were practicing:

There once was a friend, warm and true,
Who brightened the days passing through.
So here’s a cheer on your day,
Happy Birthday—I say,
"A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be a wonderful secret".

[eriehiker]

There is one additional side note. Several years ago, Elisa New shifted to professor emeritus status at Harvard and became a professor at Arizona State University. Her poetry classes, still offered at Harvard Extension, also morphed into universal learner classes at Arizona State. While looking up sites for this post, I encountered error messages for the sites where these classes used to exist. A look at her wikipedia page includes information that New was fired by Arizona State yesterday.

[Coachr21]

Hey I applied to the program, registered for a class, and filled out the scholarship, as it peaked my interest, but was informed via email this morning they are canceling all Poetry in America classes this semester. Not sure if the program is done entirely but yea 

[bjcheung77]

Ouch, I wonder if it's just on hold for a moment, or at least a semester or two...

[Coachr21]

Ouch, I wonder if it's just on hold for a moment, or at least a semester or two...

I emailed to see if they could provide more information on the future of the program, but have not heard back yet.