Trump official Sean Duffy warns daughter against Harvard, says it could ‘corrupt’ her mind

WASHINGTON, DC: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned his teenage daughter that attending Harvard could undermine the values she was raised with during an episode of his new family reality series, ‘The Great American Road Trip’.

The conversation took place as Duffy and his daughter Paloma discussed colleges she could visit during a family trip to Boston.

Duffy said he believed Harvard could “corrupt” the minds of students like his daughter, while she argued that attending a liberal university after growing up in a conservative family could provide a more balanced education. 

Sean Duffy warns daughter about Harvard education

The six-episode series, which follows Duffy, his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine children as they travel across the country, was released on their YouTube channel on Wednesday, August 19, after being delayed from its planned June debut.

In an episode focused on the family’s visit to Boston, Duffy asked Paloma whether she would want to attend Harvard if she were accepted.

She said she would likely want to go, arguing that receiving an offer would make it difficult for her parents to say no.

Duffy responded that he and his wife could still make that decision.

Campos-Duffy later discussed her concerns about Paloma attending Harvard, saying, “Catholicism to us is everything. It's the basis of our marriage. It's the basis of our family. So, I'm nervous about the idea of Paloma going to Harvard.”

Duffy said he fears that the school could influence his daughter in ways that conflict with the values she was raised with.

“Listen, my problem is how hard we’ve worked to raise what is a remarkable young girl, if I send you there, I think what happens is they have professionalized figuring out how they can take good, young girls like you and corrupt their minds,” he said.

Paloma pushed back, saying that growing up in a conservative family and attending a liberal university could expose her to different perspectives.

Duffy, however, responded that students could also become “perverted and contorted” after being exposed to environments different from those in which they were raised.

Duffy comments follow Trump-Harvard lawsuit dismissal

Duffy’s remarks came just a week after a federal judge in Boston dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration against Harvard.

The Justice Department had accused the university of failing to adequately address alleged antisemitic harassment of Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests following the October 2023 attacks.

US District Judge Richard G Stearns ruled that the incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to establish an ongoing violation of federal civil rights law.

The Justice Department said it disagreed with the ruling and was assessing its next steps.

The lawsuit was part of a broader dispute between the Trump administration and Harvard.

In a separate case last year, a federal judge ordered the administration to reverse more than $2.6 billion in research funding cuts to Harvard.

The court found that the government had used antisemitism as a “smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault” on universities.