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Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu September 19, 2024

Social media posts about Kamala Harris’ college studies originated as satire

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  • Viral social media posts used supposed photos and quotes from Kamala Harris’ college professors that were made up. The claims originated from satire websites.

  • The Facebook post used a photo of Bradford Grant, a Howard University architecture professor who joined the faculty in 2007. Harris studied political science and economics and graduated from Howard in 1986.

  • The Instagram post used a photo of Jerry Sandusky, a convicted sex offender and former football coach.

More than 30 years after Vice President Kamala Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and law school in California, her former college professors are speaking out about her poor performance. At least that’s what viral social media posts claim.

"Howard University professors confirm: "Kamala was the worst student ever," read a now-deleted Sept. 13 Facebook post. The post features a photo of Harris and a man seated behind a desk and links to a website for more information. We saw similar claims on X.

A different Instagram post uses similar language but features a different man, purportedly another professor. "Kamala's Berkeley law professor says she topped his ‘worst student ever’ list," the Sept. 12 post claimed. 

The Facebook and Instagram posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

Neither professor’s critique actually happened. These claims started as satire but were shared out of context. It also appears one satirical post inspired another on a second satire website.

The Facebook post’s language originated Sept. 10 from a satire website, Esspots.com, and was shared on that site’s Facebook account. The website and its Facebook account, SpaceX Fanclub, are marked as satire.

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A reverse-image search shows the photo of the man in the Facebook claim is Bradford Grant, Howard University architecture professor. Grant came to Howard in 2007, according to his CV, long after Harris graduated in 1986 with her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics.

The man in the Instagram post, meanwhile, is Jerry Sandusky, a reverse-image search found. Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State University, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in 2012 after being convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse.

The Instagram post also claims to quote Harris’ Berkeley law professor, but Harris graduated law school in 1989 at what was then University of California Hastings, now called the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, or UC Law SF — not Berkeley Law in Berkeley, California. (Harris was born in Oakland and spent much of her childhood in nearby Berkeley but did not attend graduate school there.) 

The Instagram post’s language comes from America’s Last Line of Defense, a network of satirical websites and social media pages that posts memes and made-up headlines involving political and cultural figures designed to make fun of conservatives. 

Satire websites have been the sources of recent viral false social media posts posing as news about politics and culture. Christopher Blair, the man behind America’s Last Line of Defense, told The New York Times in June that more accounts and websites were using AI to mimic his  content.

We rate these claims about Harris’ college professors dissing her academic acumen Pants on Fire!

Our Sources

Facebook post, archived link, Sept. 13, 2024

Instagram post, Sept. 12, 2024 

Howard University, Howard University Professor Bradford Grant Named First Smithsonian Instagram Artist-in-Residence, July 23, 2020

PolitiFact, Touchdown false: The Minnesota Vikings didn’t ‘denounce’ Gov. Tim Walz, Sept. 12, 2024

PolitiFact, Claim that Kamala Harris was fired from McDonald’s for stealing is satire, Sept. 4, 2024

PolitiFact, No, Venus Williams didn’t forfeit a tennis match against a trans woman. That story is fake, April 17, 2024

Above the Law, Kamala Harris Could Be The Second Lawyer-President Without A T-14 Law Degree, Aug. 16, 2024

The New York Times, As Kamala Harris Claims Oakland, Berkeley Forgives, Aug. 26, 2024

LeadStories, Fact Check: Howard University Professors Did NOT Say Kamala Harris 'Was The Worst Student Ever' -- Satire, Sept. 17, 2024

Howard Magazine, Raising Up Kamala - Spring 2021 issue, accessed Sept. 18, 2024

Howard University, Iconic Graduates, accessed Sept. 18, 2024

Howard University, Bradford Grant, accessed Sept. 18, 2024

YouTube, Penn State's Jerry Sandusky Denial to Bob Costas Angers Alleged Victim's Mother, Nov. 16, 2011

The Associated Press, Jerry Sandusky resentenced to 30 to 60 years, same as before, Nov. 22, 2019

The New York Times, Fake News Still Has a Home on Facebook, June 13, 2024

Facebook post, archived link, Sept. 10, 2024

X post, archived link, Sept. 14, 2024

Esspots (Satire website), Howard University Professors Confirm: "Kamala Was the Worst Student Ever", Sept. 10, 2024

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Social media posts about Kamala Harris’ college studies originated as satire

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