tainaste rings school principal

ednwireland

strikes again

sorry mary (sorry, that should be tainiste)

considering theFF record on the school building program i think he has a perfect right to think it will never happen

noticed a few of these funding announcements recently (ff trying to buy a few votes - surely not)

that woman should be sacked, hopefully the voters of sw donegal will see her for what she is

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/elections/school-staff-gobsmacked-by-phone-rant-from-coughlan-2514699.html

School staff 'gobsmacked' by phone rant from Coughlan
Principal's comment angers minister

Friday January 28 2011

EDUCATION Minister Mary Coughlan took time out of her busy schedule to berate a "gobsmacked" school deputy principal in an angry phone call, made after she saw a story in the Irish Independent.

The minister's rant -- at a time when the Government teetered near collapse and a Fianna Fail leadership contest was under way -- came after authorities in the Dublin school commented on delays in providing a new building.

Gaelscoil Bharra in Cabra has been waiting 15 years for a new building and staff were not convinced by a sudden promise made on Monday by the minister to include it in a list of 400 school projects.

Principal Sean O Donaile's sceptical comments enraged the minister, who picked up the phone and personally rang the school early on Tuesday morning to express her anger in strong terms.

Dannyboy83

15 years!:pac:

I hope he'll record the next conversation

sceptre

With her reputation for, er, colourful language to the detriment of clarity, Mary Coughlan ringing anyone with "a rant" and expressing "her anger in strong terms" sounds like like something that should come with a pre-recorded warning about language unsuitable for minors, print-media or anyone who doesn't choose to work in the dark recesses of a fully-equipped brothel dungeon.

Based on the length of time the school has been waiting, the file going missing (presumably in the department of Education) for five years and the convenient timing of the announcement that the process has begun, I don't think any of us could fault anyone involved with the school for saying that they'd not believe anything until they saw the bricks and mortar, as the school's principal apparently did. Mary Coughlan obviously saw fit to do so and threw in a strongly-worded rant (which I expect included all the words that some parents would rather not appear in dictionaries for children), but then in my opinion she's not a particularly good Minister for Education so it's the sort of petulant thing I'd almost expect from someone of her calibre.

Scofflaw

I still cannot work out for the life of me why she has ever held Ministerial office, let alone the Tanistry. There genuinely are many more competent people in Fianna Fáil than Coughlan.

boggled,
Scofflaw

sligopark

The Prinicpal should report the call to the guards as unwanted and abusive.

I think given how SW Donegal has fallen off the planet in the last 8-12 months she will be lucky to retain her seat given how the wise old men of ff have decided on two candidates to split their vote.

GSF

Scofflaw wrote: »

There genuinely are many more competent people in Fianna Fáil than Coughlan.

But is that part of the selection criteria to become a minister?

ednwireland

sligopark wrote: »

The Prinicpal should report the call to the guards as unwanted and abusive.

I think given how SW Donegal has fallen off the planet in the last 8-12 months she will be lucky to retain her seat given how the wise old men of ff have decided on two candidates to split their vote.

we can but hope

Dannyboy83

GSF wrote: »

But is that part of the selection criteria to become a minister?

It was Cowen's decision to surround himself with 'Yes people'.
Hence, we got Mary Coughlan.

robbie67

A nephew of mine was one of the first pupils in that school he enrolled when he was 4 he is now age 19 working away.
The local ff deputy for all the time was the bold Bertie promised a school every election

jmayo

Scofflaw wrote: »

I still cannot work out for the life of me why she has ever held Ministerial office, let alone the Tanistry. There genuinely are many more competent people in Fianna Fáil than Coughlan.

boggled,
Scofflaw

Ah come on now Scofflaw, I thought you were more up to speed on these things.
The bould mary from Donegal has all the right credentials.
She comes from an area that needs some form of minister as is the political geographic necessity in Ireland.
She is daughter of an ex ff TD so she has the heritage and ehhh breeding.
She studied for a degree in something that would have absolutely no bearing on the management of government departments, i.e. social services.
She has lots of experience of working in the real world. Three or four months AFAIK.
Oh and most important of all she was a drinking buddy of the man himself.

The only mystery is with that list of necessary ff qualifications that she wasn't made minister of finance. :rolleyes:

Scofflaw

jmayo wrote: »

Ah come on now Scofflaw, I thought you were more up to speed on these things.
The bould mary from Donegal has all the right credentials.
She comes from an area that needs some form of minister as is the political geographic necessity in Ireland.
She is daughter of an ex ff TD so she has the heritage and ehhh breeding.
She studied for a degree in something that would have absolutely no bearing on the management of government departments, i.e. social services.
She has lots of experience of working in the real world. Three or four months AFAIK.
Oh and most important of all she was a drinking buddy of the man himself.

The only mystery is with that list of necessary ff qualifications that she wasn't made minister of finance. :rolleyes:

Yes - sadly, I keep hoping for an answer that doesn't look like that. Even that bit - "comes from an area that needs some form of minister as is the political geographic necessity in Ireland" - is something vaguely comprehensible as being attached at some point to the real world. The rest of it suggests that any theory of Fianna Fáil's actions that involves a conspiracy rather than inbred idiocy gives them too much credit.

cordially,
Scofflaw

donkey balls

It looks like aul mary is looking for a few votes in the cabra/navan rd area:eek:during the last election bb bertie :eek:transfered his votes to Cypriam Brady, Even though the local cabra/navan rd canidate got more first preference votes than brady also cabra is a very strong hold for SF so maybe with SF on the rise FF are trying to get some easy votes.;)

jd

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

It was Cowen's decision to surround himself with 'Yes people'.

And drinking buddies.

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Hence, we got Mary Coughlan.

later12

There are many things which I admire in the Tánaiste but her tact would not be one of them. I for one find her anti-illectual poltical nature to be entirely refreshing. A politician doesn't have to be Nietzsche, and in many cases a cabinet of such people would be somewhat unappealing. There is lots of room for intellectual improvement and logistical enhancement at the level of the civil service, but the political manager of a department doesn't necessarily have to be a PhD.

Mary Coughlan doesn't belong at a Dublin dinner party, but she does have a deserved place in a political party. As a poltician she is a formidable entity both in terms of getting elected and political progression and apparently, as a manager. I find her exasperation with some individuals and some political groups to be entirely deserved. If any reasonable individual were to put him or herself in the position of the current Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Children, Education and Skills, he or she could probably understand the minister's frustration in having to assure a principal that she was getting on with her job if he would perhaps get on with his. I wouldn't relish her political office and in general I think that while she was badly misplaced in Enterprise, she is doing a good job and is largely answering for the mistakes of others in her current portfolios.

Shea O'Meara

later10 wrote: »

If any reasonable individual were to put him or herself in the position of the current Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Children, Education and Skills, he or she could probably understand the minister's frustration in having to assure a principal that she was getting on with her job if he would perhaps get on with his.

After 15 years? It would be strange if he didn't question the validity of the promise. As a representative of the school, it is his job to query such things.
Granted she is not in her post 15 years, but we continue to make excuses for this failed government/party.

later10 wrote: »

I wouldn't relish her political office and in general I think that while she was badly misplaced in Enterprise, she is doing a good job and is largely answering for the mistakes of others in her current portfolios.

This is always the way. You take up the responsibility when you take on the role. She doesn't even have the benefit of blaming a previous administration. I didn't see FFail having any issue with accepting the celtic tiger as their own.
The FFail pass the buck ethos, even within their own party really shows their true mettle.

Sponge Bob

I know of a school principal who got a phone call in october 2009 around when the many €100m capital budget that was underspent by Batt O Keefe was publicised.

It turns out a PHOTO fell out of a file on a civil servants desk and that a senior civil servant walked past and asked what the f*** this was. They found the file and replaced the photo.

Upshot was a curious phonecall about the photo, it was one of a decrepit prefab with things growing in it. A chat ensued, Batts underspend broke a few days later. Another phoncecall, how fast could you spend money if you had it sort of stuff.

The principal undertook to ensure the replacement would be complete by christmas, and it was.The total bill €300k or around 0.1% of the entire capital budget in 2009. That principal could have been blue in the face roaring at the department for years and gotten nothing

They might even get around to applying for planning permission one of the days, nobody seemed to care in 2009.

later12

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

This is always the way. You take up the responsibility when you take on the role.

Yes and by all accounts she appears to be doing that, and I think that any serious criticism of her tenure in education, whatever about enterprise, would be misplaced.

All of this was, apparently, was a frustrated phone call to a public servant by a busy minister to assure him he ought to disentagle his underwear for progress was being made on the school building.

I appreciate that there are some segments of the workforce (both public and private) who operate in a pleasant cocoon where employees exchange pleasantries like biscuits at elevenses, but politics is not one of those environments and I have the feeling that all that the teacher was witnessing was the reality of that fact. If the teacher in question was expecting a perfume scented letter in floral handwriting from the Minister I am afraid he was probably always going to be disappointed.

This story is little more than a storm in a teacup about a primary school teacher who simply became offended by the Minister's tone of voice.

cornbb

later10 wrote: »

All of this was, apparently, was a frustrated phone call to a public servant by a busy minister to assure him he ought to disentagle his underwear for progress was being made on the school building.

Nonsense. Its yet more evidence that Fianna Fail are warning people that it will do them no good to publically criticise the government.

Do you really think that the Dept were hard at work making progress on the school building after 15 years in limbo?

later12

cornbb wrote: »

Nonsense. Its yet more evidence that Fianna Fail are warning people that it will do them no good to publically criticise the government.

Hardly, if she wanted to do that she could have just artistically de-prioritised the new school building. Coughlan may not be a rocket scientist but nor would creative prioritisation be rocket science.

Plus she hardly expected Principal Gobsmacked to run back to the Indo to regale the reporter with the updated tale.

In most cases, the simplest explanation is usually the accurate one. I see this nothing more as a busy Minister who saw a local principal upsetting himself in the media and putting her off her coffee, when she simply picked up the telephone and advised that he would not wet his trousers in public; perhaps, as is her nature, she did so rather bluntly.

Do you really think that the Dept were hard at work making progress on the school building after 15 years in limbo?

No idea, and I'm pretty sure Coughlan didn't either.

byhookorbycrook

Our entire school spent 20+ yrs in prefabs-we have 475 children. We were on several "lists" that seemed to change on a politican's whim.I am glad the principal made this abuse public.

cornbb

later10 wrote: »

Hardly, if she wanted to do that she could have just artistically de-prioritised the new school building. Coughlan may not be a rocket scientist but nor would creative prioritisation be rocket science.

How do you know that she hasn't done that, in addition to making that phonecall?

Plus she hardly expected Principal Gobsmacked to run back to the Indo to regale the reporter with the updated tale.

If the principal had to resort to publicly calling out the department's failures in order to draw attention to his school's long-standing problem, then he did absolutely the right thing. The government should be called out on their obvious shortcomings, Mary Coughlan seems to think she should be beyond criticism.

In most cases, the simplest explanation is usually the accurate one. I see this nothing more as a busy Minister who saw a local principal upsetting himself in the media and putting her off her coffee, when she simply picked up the telephone and advised that he would not wet his trousers in public; perhaps, as is her nature, she did so rather bluntly.

I'm sure Mary Coughlan is busy alright, but I'll wager that she's putting more energy into saving face and spin than building schools. I'm sure you'll see her cutting a ribbon and smiling at the media next time something positive happens.

later12

cornbb wrote: »

How do you know that she hasn't done that, in addition to making that phonecall?

Because given the nature of this minister, she would probably tell him as much or imply as much. All that happened here was that she took issue with his complaint and if he had a problem with her tone, then that's pretty much his problem, isn't it.

Mary Coughlan seems to think she should be beyond criticism.

Based on what? It's pretty fair to deduce that she probably just got fed up with the principal in question being humoured by the Indo and put him out of his misery with a telephone call.

I'm sure you'll see her cutting a ribbon and smiling at the media next time something positive happens.

Mary Coughlan rarely, if ever, smiles at the media as far as I can see. She has her faults, but I would like to see more politicians like her who don't pander to the media and popular opinion at every turn, or who aren't afraid to tell a school principal, an employee of the state, where to go.

GSF

feelingstressed wrote: »

And if you called out your senior management in most companies in the newspapers you'd be fired

I though we were living in a democracy not a private company

Shea O'Meara

later10 wrote: »

Hardly, if she wanted to do that she could have just artistically de-prioritised the new school building. Coughlan may not be a rocket scientist but nor would creative prioritisation be rocket science.

I get the feeling he should have been grateful, tipped his cap and voted FFail on the off chance the 15 year wait was over.:rolleyes:

later10 wrote: »

Plus she hardly expected Principal Gobsmacked to run back to the Indo to regale the reporter with the updated tale.

If I were him I'd be running to every newspaper every week until it got done.

later10 wrote: »

In most cases, the simplest explanation is usually the accurate one.

Yes, he called them on it, she got her boxers in a twist.

later10 wrote: »

I see this nothing more as a busy Minister who saw a local principal upsetting himself in the media and putting her off her coffee, when she simply picked up the telephone and advised that he would not wet his trousers in public; perhaps, as is her nature, she did so rather bluntly.

She should have called to apologise and reassure him it was going to happen after 15 years, rather than curse him down for having the cheek to question her.

Shea O'Meara

later10 wrote: »

Mary Coughlan rarely, if ever, smiles at the media as far as I can see. She has her faults, but I would like to see more politicians like her who don't pander to the media and popular opinion at every turn, or who aren't afraid to tell a school principal, an employee of the state, where to go.

If I had a child at that school I would think his salary well earned on calling his fellow colleague to question for not carrying out her service to the parents as an employee of the state.

later12

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

I get the feeling he should have been grateful, tipped his cap and voted FFail on the off chance the 15 year wait was over.:rolleyes:

I think she would have been pretty happy if he got on with his job.

If I were him I'd be running to every newspaper every week until it got done.

Yeah well they probably wouldn't keep running with it.

She should have called to apologise and reassure him it was going to happen after 15 years, rather than curse him down for having the cheek to question her.

Reassure? Why reassure? She assured him it was going to happen, I'm sure she didn't really need to call over with tea and sympathy. I'm not picking on the public sector here, but I think there are certain segments of the private and public workforce who are a bit sheltered from criticism, and primary school teachers can probably be numbered in that lot. He needs to build a bridge and skip over it.

Kristopherus

Well, with any luck the Bould Mary might have plenty of time for building & skipping by the end of next month.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
@ Later 10. Are you on her staff by any chance?

later12

Kristopherus wrote: »

Well, with any luck the Bould Mary might have plenty of time for building & skipping by the end of next month.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
@ Later 10. Are you on her staff by any chance?

No. Pointing out that the most simple explanation is probably the most accurate, and that the only thing this story update adds to political discussion is that the teacher in question appears overly sensitive should not mean that one must be a die-hard FF supporter nor a member of the Minister's staff. He needs to move on with his life now.

Incidentally, the only time I have ever even seen Mary Coughlan in real life she was bustling anxiously around the frozen food section in Marks and Spencer on Grafton Street. It reminded me of how difficult it must be to fulfill one's ministerial duties and one's supplementary duties as a local representative as well as a parent, far away from one's home base and the support of a family. I wouldn't blame the Minister for being slightly blunt with the inevitable protesting teacher or public servant in the execution of her many duties.

The teacher in question should be grateful that she took the time out to assure him of her dedication on top of what assurances he has already received.

Shea O'Meara

later10 wrote: »

No. Pointing out that the most simple explanation is probably the most accurate, and that the only thing this story update adds to political discussion is that the teacher in question appears overly sensitive should not mean that one must be a die-hard FF supporter nor a member of the Minister's staff. He needs to move on with his life now.

Incidentally, the only time I have ever even seen Mary Coughlan in real life she was bustling anxiously around the frozen food section in Marks and Spencer on Grafton Street. It reminded me of how difficult it must be to fulfill one's ministerial duties and one's supplementary duties as a local representative as well as a parent, far away from one's home base and the support of a family. I wouldn't blame the Minister for being slightly blunt with the inevitable protesting teacher or public servant in the execution of her many duties.

The teacher in question should be grateful that she took the time out to assure him of her dedication on top of what assurances he has already received.

Ah I get it. I'm coming from the point of view that she is charged with serving me and the rest of the public.
She goes grocery shopping you say, poor lamb.

Basically, it isn't the biggest story ever but we'll see if it gets built. After 15 years I'd imagine the principle was more glad of the chance to bring further attention to it and not that he has led a sheltered life/career, which is a little patronising.

flutered

Scofflaw wrote: »

I still cannot work out for the life of me why she has ever held Ministerial office, let alone the Tanistry. There genuinely are many more competent people in Fianna Fáil than Coughlan.

boggled,
Scofflaw

i beg to differ.

Jaysoose

later10 wrote: »

There are many things which I admire in the Tánaiste but her tact would not be one of them. I for one find her anti-illectual poltical nature to be entirely refreshing. A politician doesn't have to be Nietzsche, and in many cases a cabinet of such people would be somewhat unappealing. There is lots of room for intellectual improvement and logistical enhancement at the level of the civil service, but the political manager of a department doesn't necessarily have to be a PhD.

Mary Coughlan doesn't belong at a Dublin dinner party, but she does have a deserved place in a political party. As a poltician she is a formidable entity both in terms of getting elected and political progression and apparently, as a manager. I find her exasperation with some individuals and some political groups to be entirely deserved. If any reasonable individual were to put him or herself in the position of the current Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Children, Education and Skills, he or she could probably understand the minister's frustration in having to assure a principal that she was getting on with her job if he would perhaps get on with his. I wouldn't relish her political office and in general I think that while she was badly misplaced in Enterprise, she is doing a good job and is largely answering for the mistakes of others in her current portfolios.

And the award for most delusional poster of the year gos to......

johnnyskeleton

later10 wrote: »

There are many things which I admire in the Tánaiste but her tact would not be one of them. I for one find her anti-illectual poltical nature to be entirely refreshing. A politician doesn't have to be Nietzsche, and in many cases a cabinet of such people would be somewhat unappealing. There is lots of room for intellectual improvement and logistical enhancement at the level of the civil service, but the political manager of a department doesn't necessarily have to be a PhD.

Interesting. So Coughlan (and by implication all of FF) has a policy of anti-intellectualism whereby she cuts the funding from schools and because this leads to less educated people there will be more votes for her and less for the people who know the difference between Einstein and Darwin.

donkey balls

later10 wrote: »

No. Pointing out that the most simple explanation is probably the most accurate, and that the only thing this story update adds to political discussion is that the teacher in question appears overly sensitive should not mean that one must be a die-hard FF supporter nor a member of the Minister's staff. He needs to move on with his life now.

Incidentally, the only time I have ever even seen Mary Coughlan in real life she was bustling anxiously around the frozen food section in Marks and Spencer on Grafton Street. It reminded me of how difficult it must be to fulfill one's ministerial duties and one's supplementary duties as a local representative as well as a parent, far away from one's home base and the support of a family. I wouldn't blame the Minister for being slightly blunt with the inevitable protesting teacher or public servant in the execution of her many duties.

The teacher in question should be grateful that she took the time out to assure him of her dedication on top of what assurances he has already received.

Question why would she be buying frozen goods in M&S Dublin for her family back home in Donegal,Sure they would be thawed out by the time she gets home not unless the company merc has a freezer in it.:rolleyes:

Bob Z

flutered wrote: »

i beg to differ.

Are you defending Mary Coughlan or attacking FF?

later12

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Interesting. So Coughlan (and by implication all of FF) has a policy of anti-intellectualism

Hang on, by implication of all Fianna Fail? Where on earth did that extrapolation come from?
To get back to the issue, I said that I find Coughlan's political nature, which appears anti-intellectual, to be refreshing. I didn't say that she herself is anti-intellectual, in the sense that she approaches politics not from an ideological or scholastic rigidity, but with a pragmatism and a practicality which I personally admire.

This is quite funny. You can walk into a room of distinguished political scientists and listen to them discuss the merits and the downfalls of anti intellectual styles of leadership, but you come onto a possibly less erudite Irish politics forum and people take anti-intellectual style to mean a policy whereby people are less educated. Hopefully there is enough grey matter amongst some posters to see the irony in that.

later12

donkey balls wrote: »

Question why would she be buying frozen goods in M&S Dublin for her family back home in Donegal,Sure they would be thawed out by the time she gets home not unless the company merc has a freezer in it.:rolleyes:

Because she lives in Dublin part of the time

johnnyskeleton

later10 wrote: »

Hang on, by implication of all Fianna Fail? Where on earth did that extrapolation come from?

Because she is second in command in the government. It is reasonable to infer that if the leader of a party is anti-intellectual, that the rest of the party supports that view. Otherwise, why is she leader?

later10 wrote: »

To get back to the issue, I said that I find Coughlan's political nature, which appears anti-intellectual, to be refreshing. I didn't say that she herself is anti-intellectual, in the sense that she approaches politics not from an ideological or scholastic rigidity, but with a pragmatism and a practicality which I personally admire.

You're shifting the goalposts here from her anti-intellectual polticial nature to her being a political pragmatist. There is a world of difference.

later10 wrote: »

This is quite funny. You can walk into a room of distinguished political scientists and listen to them discuss the merits and the downfalls of anti intellectual styles of leadership,

Can you name any merit of anti-intellectual leadership other than that it is popular among the less well educated who feel disenfranchised? FF do anti-intellectualism very well and it is great for getting votes from people who don't really think too much about politics, government or the economy. But as we have seen it is a disaster from a governance point of view.

Also, can you name any "distinguished political scientists" who discuss the merits of anti-intellectual styles of leadership?

later10 wrote: »

but you come onto a possibly less erudite Irish politics forum and people take anti-intellectual style to mean a policy whereby people are less educated. Hopefully there is enough grey matter amongst some posters to see the irony in that.

Anti-intellectualism is a view that intellect, education, art and/or acamdeics are a waste of time. If she is an anti-intellectual, she would be against education, among other things. So yes, if she has an anti-intellectual political nature she would be against education. Since this case is about the shocking state that some school buildings have been left in as a result of her and her government, I feel that calling her and FF anti-intellectual is quite apposite.

later12

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Because she is second in command in the government. It is reasonable to infer that if the leader of a party is anti-intellectual, that the rest of the party supports that view. Otherwise, why is she leader?

She is not ''leader'' of Fianna Fáil nor of the Government. Your statement related specifically to Fianna Fáil and Coughlan holds no senior rank at all in that organisation.
I am saying that her political nature appear to me, an onlooker, to be anti intellectual in its approach. How on Earth you take that to mean that Fianna Fáil are, by default, anti-intellectual, is quite baffling. I'm not sure you understand the difference in commenting on an individual's managerial style and that of the organisation within which he or she is a mere constituent.

She is Tánasite, which was in reality probably more of an experiment in gender balance than anything to do with her professional abilties or her managerial style (fine as it is in itself) in my opinion.

You're shifting the goalposts here from her anti-intellectual polticial nature to her being a political pragmatist. There is a world of difference.

No there isn't, you are exaggerating. Coughlan's managerial style, from what I can see, is pragmatic and anti intellectual in that she would appear to favour practicality and pragmatism over a scholastic policy framework or any philosophically or ideologically minded approaches to her tenure. In that regard, it is not that she is totally different to her colleagues, but rather that she doesn't disguise her management style as anything else than what it is. There are a great many Fianna Fáil Ministers who disguise their motives in terms of official advice, not least, as we have seen, during the emergence of the Irish financial crisis when many academics and the ESRI itself were distinctly behind the curve in the advice which they flung and in some case continue to fling. There are also many incidences of Government ministers endowing one another with a supposed level of intellectual prowess which history has come to dismiss, particularly Brian Cowen who has often been referred to as some sort of intellectual beacon within the Government. It is in that light which I have to say that I consider Mary Coughlan's ministerial and leadership qualities uniquely refreshing. It reminds me of the old fashioned leadership style within that party which was perpetuated by Seán Lemass in the middle of the twentieth century, where pragmatism was favoured over strict ideological and academic rigidity.

Can you name any merit of anti-intellectual leadership other than that it is popular among the less well educated who feel disenfranchised?

Why would its popularity be a true merit? You seem to be getting confused in posing your own question. I have already described what I am implying by describing her style under such terms, to my mind it offers a more pragmatic, more flexible and a less hostile approach to governance. I think that a healthy level of scepticism towards the influence of academia in governance is a good thing, since one must inevitably balance what sounds good policy on paper with what is good policy in reality: as the legendary American political author and analyst William F. Buckley, has put it, "I would sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University".

Also, can you name any "distinguished political scientists" who discuss the merits of anti-intellectual styles of leadership?

Would you like a conversational log? A political science reading list? Explain specifically what you are asking for here. I suppose a name that anyone who is interested in political science would be interested in is Richard Hofstadter, go read one of his works on the merits or failures of anti intellectualism. Or Seymour Martin Lipset for other persepctives on politicians and academics. I presume you aren't actually suggesting that this is not a matter of discourse.

If she is an anti-intellectual, she would be against education, among other things.

So yes, if she has an anti-intellectual political nature she would be against education.

This has to be the most idiotic inference I have read on boards in weeks, and that's an achievment. Well done. I said her style of management, her political nature, is anti-intellectual. You don't appear to understand what that means and with respect, I'm not here to instruct you. It does not, however, mean that she is opposed to education.