Harvard grad Burner: burned

The odd terminology Harvard uses for some of its degrees and certificates has tripped up a Democratic candidate for Congress -- or, more accurately, it has tripped up the Seattle Times, which ran a "gotcha" piece yesterday on Darcy Burner, who is running for a Congressional seat in Washington's Eighth District.

Here's the lede, as we hacks say, which ends with a tomahawk chop:

In recent weeks, Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner has touted her Harvard degree in economics when talking about the nation's financial crisis and her opposition to the bailout package passed by Congress.

At two debates this month, she brought up her academic background in her opening statement.

"I loved economics so much that I got a degree in it from Harvard," she said at an Oct. 10 debate at KCTS-TV. "Now everywhere I go in this district, the only thing people want to talk to me about is the economy."

But while she took courses in economics, Burner doesn't have a degree in the subject from Harvard.

Wham! Pretty damning stuff: yet another resume-inflater! They're everywhere, you know. But wait, what's this, in the next paragraph?

She does have a bachelor's degree in computer science, the university said. And her academic transcripts show she took five economics courses, enough to earn an emphasis in economics within her computer science degree. [My, um, emphasis.]

Hmm. And here's the biographical information Burner supplied the Times in June, which the paper printed: "Education: Harvard University, B.A. in computer science with a special field of economics, 1996."

Apparently, Burner, a former Microsoft manager, got what other colleges might call a certificate or a minor in economics -- which in ordinary conversation could certainly be called "a degree." Indeed, her spokesman told the Times it was simply too cumbersome to keep repeating the "degree in computer science with a special field of economics" stuff. It "doesn't exactly flow off the tongue," the spokesman said.

But it gets worse. The Seattle Times also suggests Burner lies on her Web site, in the following passage about her youth: "[S]he buckled down and studied twice as hard at school, while working two or three jobs at time, to get accepted and then put herself through Harvard, where she earned a degree in computer science and economics." [Emphasis mine.] That last bit is the supposed lie.

The liberal blogosphere -- especially the contingent that went to Harvard -- is up in arms. (Especially that first guy.)

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Burner's opponent, Dave Reichert, said the fictional resume fabrication "calls into question everything that she has said to this point."

Oy. One change that would make future such problems less likely: Harvard could just say "majors" and "minors," like the rest of the country.