Harvard did not fire former Philippine vice president Leni Robredo from leadership role

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 4, 2022 at 07:29
3 min read
By Faith BROWN, AFP Philippines

Former Philippine vice president Leni Robredo was not fired after just one day of teaching at Harvard as online posts in October allege. The university told AFP the claim in the posts -- viewed tens of thousands of times -- is "absolutely false". Robredo's social media posts as of November 4 indicate she continues to give lectures at Harvard under the university's Hauser Leaders Program.

"LENI WAS KICKED OUT OF HARVARD BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN? HER FIRST DAY IS HER LAST?" reads the Tagalog-language title of a YouTube video shared on October 23.

The video has since been viewed more than 100,000 times.

Robredo has been a frequent target of online misinformation that aim to portray her as stupid -- often fanned by supporters of her 2022 presidential election opponent and eventual winner Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Harvard Kennedy School -- Harvard University's school of public policy and governance -- announced on August 31 that Robredo had been appointed as a Hauser Leader for the fall 2022 semester.

"Throughout the semester, the Hauser Leaders meet individually with students, give guest lectures, and lead public events on campus," the announcement reads.

The 18-minute video shows photos from one of Robredo's lectures and an excerpt from another YouTube video by a user who alleges the former vice president only gave a single lecture at the university.

Screenshot of the false post taken on November 3

Links to the video were also shared on Twitter here and here and in a blog post here. A link to the blog was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here.

Comments on the posts suggest some people believed Robredo had been fired after just one day.

"Maybe Harvard got scared their students would also become dumb that's why she was kicked out," one user wrote.

"Haha, good for her. Harvard people are not stupid," another commented.

Robredo, however, was not fired from Harvard and the former vice president has posted on social media about future lectures.

'Absolutely false'

James Smith, a representative from the Harvard Kennedy School, told AFP on November 2: "This rumour is absolutely false. Leni Robredo remains here and active in the Hauser Leader Program at Harvard Kennedy School."

In a Facebook live stream on October 25, Robredo spoke about lectures she will be giving at Harvard that week.

"This is a hell week because from today until Friday, I will be giving talks, and the problem is that they will be about different topics," Robredo says.

"Like tomorrow, I will give two talks. The first one is a joint Asian forum for Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School."

On November 3, Robredo posted details on her Facebook page of a talk about women of colour in leadership she would be giving on November 4.

"So happy to be doing this on Friday," the post reads.

Further keyword searches on Facebook found Robredo has posted updates about her life in Harvard here, here and here.

Local media organisations have reported about Robredo's lectures as a Hauser Leader here, here, here and here.

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