A lawyer for the Department of Justice arguing that Harvard University allows antisemitism on campus once wrote an essay as an undergraduate at the school from the perspective of Hitler and was told to redo the assignment, The Boston Globe reports.
DOJ attorney Michael Velchik, who said in federal court that Harvard displays “a wanton indifference to antisemitism,” was tasked in a Latin class during his senior year with writing a short essay from the perspective of a controversial figure from history, mythology, or literature.
Velchik selected Hitler, according to three people who studied in the same department as Velchik at the time, only for the instructor to refuse to grade it and instead ask Velchik to write about a different figure.
Two people who spoke with the Globe, who were not named by the newspaper, described the contents of the essay as disturbing. The Globe was not able to review the essay itself, nor was Newsmax.
In emails obtained by the Globe, Velchik wrote about his interest in Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” telling a peer in a June 2013 email, “is it bad that my favorite class at harvard was nietzsche and my favorite book i’ve read this year is mein kampf?”
He also described the book as “fascinating” and said the Nazi dictator “certainly excelled as an orator, and his writing reflects oratory”and “Understands the importance of propaganda. Thought that the timing of a speech was important: better late at night!”
After leaving Harvard Law School, where Velchik became a member of the conservative Federalist Society, he worked in the office of the Oklahoma solicitor general before joining the Trump White House in 2019 as deputy associate counsel.
He joined the office of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., after Trump left office in 2021 and joined the Department of Justice earlier this year as senior counsel.
Velchik could not be reached for comment by time of publication.
Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Civil Division, said in a statement that lawyers “in the Civil Division fight every day to defend the President’s agenda in court and uphold the rule of law.”
He added that Velchik “has handled some of the Civil Division’s most important cases defending the President’s agenda in court with the utmost respect and professionalism.”
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