It's really not wishful thinking at this point. Harvard is still an important place for the powerful to meet, but their graduates have thoroughly discredited themselves over the last 40 years.

Harvard’s reputation is not set in stone. Once Affirmative Action and athletic scholarship grads start to enter the workforce en masse the Harvard brand will gradually erode.

It's already diluting their brand. Harvard has had a lot of bad publicity in the past few years and it's starting to erode their cachet.