Jason Richwine is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He co-authored their study of the immigration reform bill that is currently winding its way through the Senate. Three years ago, he published two articles on a white nationalist website run by Robert Spencer. Mr. Spencer is the chairman of the the National Policy Institute, which is a “think-tank” devoted to the interests of “white Americans.”
Controversy first erupted around Jason Richwine when the Washington Post reported that he had received a doctorate from Harvard University in 2009 after submitting a dissertation that argued that immigrants have lower IQ’s than native-born Americans and that Hispanics in particular have lower IQ’s than whites. Whether or not he had data to support those allegations, he used his findings to argue that immigration policy should involve the measurement of prospective citizens’ IQ.
Michelle Malkin offered an impassioned defense of Mr. Richwine’s dissertation, which somewhat ironically relies on the credibility of the dissertation committee. Any port in a storm, I guess.
In fairness, Mr. Richwine’s posts at the white nationalist web site occurred in the first days of that blog, before they began engaging in Holocaust denial and some other deeply embarrassing things. It’s still damning that Robert Spencer had connections with Mr. Richwine at any point in time.
Mr. Richwine’s study for the Heritage Foundation, which he co-authored with Robert Rector, has been severely criticized by people on both the left and the right. But it’s Richwine’s dissertation and connection to a white nationalist that are causing the Heritage Foundation to consider bringing in a crisis management consultant group.
Former Senator Jim DeMint resigned from Congress in December to take over the Heritage Foundation. It took him about six months to destroy their reputation. Who could have predicted?
