Harvard Lecturer to Work on Trump’s Transition Team

Harvard lecturer and Dunster House resident dean Carlos E. Díaz Rosillo will advise President-elect Donald Trump during his transition to the presidency, Politico reported Friday.

Díaz Rosillo will serve as Trump’s “Executive Authority Adviser” for the president-elect’s “Policy Implementation” team, according to a document obtained by Politico.

At Harvard, Díaz Rosillo lectures on government, teaching the popular class Government 1359: “The Road to the White House,” which covered Trump’s electoral success in depth. The course, offered both semesters in 2016, saw a surge in enrollment in the spring.

Diaz Rosillo could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Since Trump’s unexpected victory early Wednesday morning, the president-elect’s transition team has worked to assemble his new administration. Trump aides announced Friday that Vice President-elect Mike Pence would lead the transition effort, taking over from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

“Busy day planned in New York,” Trump tweeted early Friday morning. “Will soon be making some very important decisions on the people who will be running our government!”

While Harvard professors have regularly worked with presidents and presidential candidates, few are likely to do so for Trump. His victory on Nov. 8 sent shockwaves across Harvard’s largely liberal campus, with students and professors alike expressing surprise and concern over the election results. The day after Trump officially won the presidency, some professors postponed exams to help ease students’ schedules.

Prior to the election last Tuesday, only six percent of surveyed Harvard undergraduates indicated they had planned to vote for Trump, according to The Crimson’s election survey published last month. In comparison, 87 percent of surveyed Harvard undergraduates indicated they would support Clinton.

Also on the policy team, according to Politico, is Ado Machida, a former aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Andrew Bremberg, an adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

—Staff writer Hannah Natanson can be reached at hannah.natanson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hannah_natanson.