"The results are in, and it is clear that Ms. Burner has misled the voters of the 8th district about her education - even the Harvard paper is now reporting the story," said campaign spokeswoman Amanda Halligan. "At a time when our country is facing a financial crisis...It is unfortunate that in this case, Ms. Burner has brushed aside the Harvard motto "VERITAS" - truth - in the interest of what is politically expedient."
HEADLINES Computer Science Professor Harry R. Lewis ’68 agreed in a phone interview that Burner did not actually have a degree in economics... - The Harvard Crimson, October 24, 2008
…The Seattle Times reported that Burner said at two recent debates that she has an economics degree. She has a computer-science degree from Harvard with a "special field," or emphasis, in economics. Her campaign says the emphasis is roughly equivalent to a minor in the subject, but a Harvard official says it's not a degree in economics. - Seattle Times, October 24, 2008
Indeed, in her stump speeches, Burner has been talking about her qualifications as the economy continues to worsen….
However, Harvard officials say that Burner's degree doesn't "indicate anything for economics."
"Darcy Burner attended Harvard from September 1989 to March 1996, her field of concentration was computer science," Pat Dyer, Harvard's supervisor of information services in the registrar's office, said Thursday. "It doesn't indicate anything for economics." -Associated Press, October 23, 2008
She has said she has a degree in economics, or in computer science and economics; the degree actually is in computer science, although her campaign says she supplemented that with a secondary focus in economics. -Seattle P.I., October 23, 2008
Darcy Burner's claims of a Harvard degree in economics aren't true Congressional candidate Darcy Burner has touted her Harvard University degree in economics during her campaign for the 8th Congressional District seat against Rep. Dave Reichert. But while Burner took some economics classes at Harvard, she doesn't have an economics degree.
By Emily Heffter Seattle Times staff reporter October 22,2008
In recent weeks, congressional candidate Darcy Burner has touted her Harvard degree in economics when talking about the nation's financial crisis and her opposition to the bailout package passed by Congress.
At two debates this month, she brought up her academic background in her opening statement.
"I loved economics so much that I got a degree in it from Harvard," she said at an Oct. 10 debate at KCTS-TV. "Now everywhere I go in this district, the only thing people want to talk to me about is the economy."
But Burner doesn't have an economics degree from Harvard.
She does have a bachelor's degree in computer science, the university said. And her academic transcripts show she took five economics courses, enough to earn an emphasis in economics within her computer science degree.
Burner said in a phone interview today that she's been upfront about her degree.
"What I have is a degree in computer science with a special field in economics," she said. "All along we've been trying to be very, very clear."
Pat Dyer, Harvard's supervisor of information services in the registrar's office, said Burner's records don't list the emphasis in economics. "The only thing it shows is that she got a bachelor's degree in computer science," Dyer said.
But she said a special field may not show up if she got it within the computer science department.
Harry Lewis, a Harvard computer science professor and former dean of the school, confirmed that Burner did study economics at Harvard.
"She doesn't have a degree in economics," he said. "It's a specialty within the computer science degree that she has."
Burner, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert in the 8th Congressional District, provided to The Seattle Times copies of her academic record that shows she took five economic courses.
Burner said she had an economics degree at two debates, the one on Oct. 10 and one on Oct. 7 in Bellevue.
Her campaign Web site biography says: "she buckled down and studied twice as hard at school, while working two or three jobs at time, to get accepted and then put herself through Harvard, where she earned a degree in computer science and economics."
Burner's spokesman, Sandeep Kaushik, said she claimed to have a degree in economics at the debates because saying she had an emphasis within her computer science degree "doesn't exactly flow off the tongue."
Asked whether having an emphasis in economics is the same as a degree in economics, he said, "No ... it's a concentration within a degree."
Reichert's campaign called Burner's statements about her degree "outrageous."
"It calls into question everything that she has said to this point," said Amanda Halligan, a spokeswoman for the Reichert campaign. "It demonstrates an arrogance that she thinks she can say what she wants and that no one is going to learn the truth."
Burner has been accused of inflating her résumé before. In her first run for Congress in 2006, her campaign Web site briefly described her as "a Microsoft executive." She was a middle manager at Microsoft.
Burner said today that a staff member made that error.
"Burner has been accused of inflating her résumé before."
- The Seattle Times 10/22/08
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