Harvard Student: Spicer Told Same 'Lies' During Secret Fellowship

A Harvard student says former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told students "easily refutable lies" during off-the-record events, in a column the student wrote for the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.

In a rant against Harvard offering secret fellowships, like the one agreed to with Spicer, Daniel Drabik scoffed at the 11 events that Spicer was allowed to do, all off-the-record, and none open to the public or student body.

"Not a single word Sean Spicer spoke during his Visiting Fellowship at Harvard was on the record, nor could a single word be heard without an explicit invite," Drabik wrote. "This was Sean Spicer's secret Harvard fellowship. All of us should push the school to not allow this level of secrecy for a Fellow again."

Further, despite the allowance for Spicer to dialogue with students privately, "the off-the-record policy did not make him particularly candid," Drabik wrote.

"I was in a classroom session with Spicer and he told the same stories, including several easily refutable lies, that he's told publicly since leaving the White House," Drabik writes.

Some of Spicer's comments were leaked, including these published by The Huffington Post:

"An alternative fact is 3+1=4 or 4+0=4. Those are alternative facts. A lie is 3+2=4. Alternative facts are legitimate tools to use in politics."

"I'm a spokesperson for the president, and my job is to say what he wants me to say."

"Reporters had the chance to go and knock on my door and see me any time, but they would only ask questions during the White House press briefing so they could be on camera. They could have asked me at any other time of the day." (HuffPost White House reporter S.V. Date reports that "the door was almost always closed. You needed his gatekeeper's permission to get in. I never got permission.")

Then there was this alleged beauty from Spicer:

"I understand that it's uncomfortable to invite someone to campus and then have students publicly challenge that person's actions," Drabik wrote. "However, constructive civil discourse isn't comfortable and easy; it's awkward and challenging. Unfortunately, Harvard valued the comfort of itself and its guest more than it valued providing a learning opportunity for its students."

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