ANALYSIS: Class project involves working with ‘social impact’ nonprofits; no answer about whether Lightfoot’s organization may be one of them
The University of Michigan is spending $60,000 to have ousted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot co-teach a course on public policy this fall, according to her contract obtained by The College Fix.
Lightfoot is a Democrat whose onerous actions on COVID-19, her refusal to give exclusive interviews to white journalists, and rampant crime during her tenure, among other issues, prompted massive criticism and led to her losing her re-election bid last year to Mayor Brandon Johnson. She has since become a darling of higher education institutions, teaching at Harvard, University of Chicago, and now Michigan.
She is slated to teach the three-credit graduate course with sociology Professor Jeff Morenoff on the Ann Arbor campus to “encourage and equip students for careers in public service,” a news release stated.
She will be paid roughly $15,000 a month. Lightfoot’s two-page contract, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, states the university will pay her $50,000 as well as a $10,000 travel stipend to be a visiting professor in the Ford School of Public Policy.
The class, “Strategic Public Policy Consulting,” will meet once a week for 14 weeks, and Lightfoot must be “present for each class,” according to the contract. Additionally, she must offer at least 1.5 office hours per week.
“Classes will begin with a lecture followed by student consulting teams meeting with you and Professor Jeff Morenoff (there will be a rotation schedule),” it states.
According to the course description, students will “conduct a faculty-supervised consulting project for a public, private, or non-profit sector policy organization” and present a “final report and an oral presentation to the client.”
“The course will pair graduate students with social impact not-for-profit organizations in Chicago and Michigan to solve challenges those groups are facing in the delivery of services in their respective communities,” according to the university news release.
Lightfoot said in the release that she recently began one such nonprofit herself to support “neighborhood vibrancy” and help “community based organizations to build the internal infrastructure they need to remain viable for their communities.”
“To make this vision a reality, however, we need a large cadre of consultants who share this view about the importance of community-based organizations, and are willing to work at tables set by the community to share their time and talents in furtherance of building capacity and solving problems,” Lightfoot said.
The university media relations office did not answer The Fix’s inquiries asking if Lightfoot’s nonprofit is one of the organizations that her students will be working with. The Fix also asked if Lightfoot’s pay is typical for a visiting professor.
University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said UM had “no other updates to share,” and directed The Fix to the initial news release.
Lightfoot also did not respond to two emailed requests for comment through her organization the Chicago Vibrant Neighborhoods Collective, asking about the class and the nonprofit organizations that the students will be working with.
Professor Morenoff also did not respond to The Fix’s request for the class syllabus and a list of the nonprofit organizations students will be working with.
Additionally, The Fix requested the class syllabus and information about the organizations that the students will be working with through its FOIA request.
In an email Monday, university Chief FOIA Officer Shannon Hill told The Fix its requests for the documents were “denied because responsive records are not yet available.”
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Open the Books, a fiscal watchdog organization based in Illinois, believes public universities like the University of Michigan should face scrutiny for the way they spend Americans’ tax dollars.
“While schools can make their own determinations about attractive course offerings, public institutions are due a bit more scrutiny as they use tax dollars to turn out students who are prepared to succeed,” CEO and founder Adam Andrzejewski told The Fix in an emailed statement Thursday when contacted about Lightfoot’s contract.
“Michiganders would be right to ask whether they want to pay to fly the former mayor in to impart the Lightfoot model on future public policy professionals. The median income for an individual in the city she led, Chicago, is $40,068 for an individual; Lightfoot’s apparently getting more than that to co-teach a single course,” Andrzejewski said.
Since losing re-election — the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to do so, Lightfoot has been making rounds at elite universities.
Last year, she taught a class last year at Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health, The Fix reported at the time.
The University of Chicago also listed Lightfoot as a winter-spring 2024 Pritzker Fellow. There, she taught an “off-the-record” seminar series “open to UChicago students only.” Topics included “effective leadership,” advocacy work, COVID, and “equity.”
While in office, the Democratic politician faced criticism for her actions related to COVID-19. She also refused to give exclusive interviews to white journalists.
Among other things, Lightfoot was called out for “getting a haircut at the height of pandemic lockdowns after telling citizens to remain home, and for placing police officers who declined to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on leave without pay,” Fox News reported at the time. A judge later ruled in favor of the police officers.
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IMAGE: University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy
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