Topline
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman continued his crusade against Harvard University Wednesday, calling for members of the school’s board to resign following university president Claudine Gay’s ousting after plagiarism allegations and criticism for her comments on antisemitism on campus.
Ackman also called for Harvard’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to be shut … [+] down.
Key Facts
Ackman called on Board Chair Penny Pritzker and other members of Harvard’s board to resign for backing Gay in spite of widespread criticism she received for remarks she made during a congressional hearing on antisemitism on campus late last year and amid allegations of academic plagiarism.
In a lengthy post on X, Ackman also criticized the university’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement, claiming it was the “root cause of antisemitism at Harvard” and called for Harvard’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to be shut down and its staff fired.
Ackman said that the university’s failure “to create a discrimination-free environment” could pose legal and financial trouble for the school.
Ackman called for a new board to be selected and be “comprised of the most impressive, high integrity, intellectually and politically diverse” people.
Harvard’s board has not publicly responded to Ackman’s call and the board did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Crucial Quote
“Harvard must once again become a meritocratic institution which does not discriminate for or against faculty or students based on their skin color, and where diversity is understood in its broadest form so that students can learn in an environment which welcomes diverse viewpoints from faculty and students from truly diverse backgrounds and experiences,” Ackman said in his post.
Tangent
Ackman attacked the Harvard Corp., one of two governing boards at Harvard University, for its “inadequate due diligence” of Gay’s academic record, in the same post. After Gay’s congressional testimony in December, allegations of plagiarism in Gay’s academic work surfaced. Ackman has consistently referenced those allegations in his social media posts. Harvard’s board investigated those allegations and found “a few instances of inadequate citation,” but no violation of the university’s standards. In her resignation letter, Gay said she was distressed to see doubt cast on her commitment “to upholding scholarly rigor.”
Key Background
For weeks, Ackman has taken to X to criticize his alma mater for their response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. While Ackman has been one of Gay’s most vocal critics, his animus with the university and some of its employees is not new. The New York Times reported last month Ackman resented the university, Gay and others for years because they did not listen to his advice despite donating tens of millions of dollars to the university. Ackman and a group of billionaires have been sternly critical of Harvard and Ivy League universities more broadly since Gay, Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth and former University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill appeared before Congress in December to discuss antisemitism on college campuses.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Ackman’s net worth to be approximately $3.9 billion, making the Pershing Square CEO the world’s 783rd richest person.
Further Reading
Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns Amid Plagiarism Allegations And Leadership Criticism (Forbes)
Harvard President Claudine Gay’s Resignation: The 10 Most Important Reactions (Forbes)
