Snyder turns down Harvard fellowship following backlash
Gov. Rick Snyder, (R-MI), listens to members comments during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, about the Flint, Michigan water crisis, on Capitol Hill March 17, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
(FOX 2) - Former Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday afternoon that he was turning down a position at Harvard University.
"I have informed the HKennedy Sch that I am turning down its offer as Snr Res Fellow," tweeted Snyder.
The tweet comes as public backlash intensified over recent days following reports that Harvard University had offered Snyder a position as a Senior Research Fellow.
The year-long appointment at the school's Taubman Center for State and Local Government was met with negativity online. Many said Snyder's involvement in the Flint Water Crisis invalidated him from being hired at the university.
The dean of Harvard's Kennedy School emailed students telling them that they would have benefitted from asking Snyder about the Flint Water Crisis. However he also said that him and the fomer governor "now believe that having him on campus would not enhance education here in the ways we intended."
Snyder would have taught a course related to state and local government, had he accepted the position.