From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones
- 7 years ago
From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones
In a memo to university administrators, these professors said the admissions dean had told them Ms. Jones’s selection would be reviewed by the president
and provost, and questioned whether she had minimized her crime “to the point of misrepresentation.”
“We didn’t have some preconceived idea about crucifying Michelle,” said John Stauffer, one of the two American studies professors.
Elizabeth Hinton, one of the Harvard historians who backed Ms. Jones, called her “one of the strongest candidates in the country last year,
period.” The case “throws into relief,” she added, the question of “how much do we really believe in the possibility of human redemption?”
The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization
that focuses on criminal justice and produced this article for , obtained internal emails and memos related to Ms. Jones’s application, and interviewed eight professors and administrators involved in reviewing it.
The admissions dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences declined to be interviewed, and a university spokeswoman did not respond to a set of eight questions about the case, saying
that “as a policy, we do not comment on individual applicants.”
Instead, the spokeswoman offered a general statement saying the graduate school “is committed to recruiting
and enrolling students from all backgrounds” and “strives to create an inclusive and supportive environment where all students can thrive.”
Harvard has, indeed, made room for a wider range of voices on its campus in recent years, including the formerly incarcerated.
In a memo to university administrators, these professors said the admissions dean had told them Ms. Jones’s selection would be reviewed by the president
and provost, and questioned whether she had minimized her crime “to the point of misrepresentation.”
“We didn’t have some preconceived idea about crucifying Michelle,” said John Stauffer, one of the two American studies professors.
Elizabeth Hinton, one of the Harvard historians who backed Ms. Jones, called her “one of the strongest candidates in the country last year,
period.” The case “throws into relief,” she added, the question of “how much do we really believe in the possibility of human redemption?”
The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization
that focuses on criminal justice and produced this article for , obtained internal emails and memos related to Ms. Jones’s application, and interviewed eight professors and administrators involved in reviewing it.
The admissions dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences declined to be interviewed, and a university spokeswoman did not respond to a set of eight questions about the case, saying
that “as a policy, we do not comment on individual applicants.”
Instead, the spokeswoman offered a general statement saying the graduate school “is committed to recruiting
and enrolling students from all backgrounds” and “strives to create an inclusive and supportive environment where all students can thrive.”
Harvard has, indeed, made room for a wider range of voices on its campus in recent years, including the formerly incarcerated.