Lost in the ideological brawl over Harvard President Claudine Gay is the strain on students at the historic Ivy League school.

In the mid-1990s, I attended Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, earning a Master's Degree in Public Administration. The school had a liberal faculty, but it was balanced by a number of military officers studying there, as well as foreign students.

I remember having some lively classroom debates where I learned a lot. In fact, the only ideological fanaticism on display came from the education majors who were solidly in Fidel Castro's corner.

My Harvard experience was A plus.

Obviously, things are different today as Harvard is ranked worst in the country in a study of free speech on campuses.

That falls right at the doorstep of former President Gay and her patrons on the board of directors. A number of Harvard students say they are terrified that their grades may be affected if they don't support progressive orthodoxy.

That's the most important issue here - diminishing college kids who dissent from woke or whatever. I mean, plagiarism is bad, but that's worse.

And that totalitarian cloak covers universities from coast to coast.

Has to stop.

Enjoy the weekend. New column Sunday.