Consulting firm paid college profs to write positive op-eds about Libya

Scandal rocks prestigious universities after reports surface that professors were involved in a PR scheme on behalf of Muammar Qaddafi.

At least three professors—from Harvard, the London School of Economics, and Rutgers—received money to travel to Libya, meet with Muammar Qaddafi, and pen op-eds touting his democratic credentials.

Who paid them?

The Monitor Group, a consulting firm that was paid $3 million by Libya to “enhance the profile of Libya and Muammar Qaddafi” in Britain and the U.S., according to Mother Jones magazine.

Here are the titles of the three op-eds, their authors, and where they appeared, based on a report in The Nation.

• “Tripoli Diarist,” by Joseph Nye, of Harvard’s Kenney School, which appeared in The New Republic in 2007. Nye said Qaddafi “was interested in discussing ‘direct democracy,'” according The Nation.

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