Bill Ackman demands Harvard, Penn, MIT presidents ‘resign in disgrace’ for antisemitism failures
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Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is calling for the presidents of three prestigious universities to “resign in disgrace” following their comments during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
The Harvard Alum was angered by his alma mater’s leader Claudine Gay along with University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) president Sally Kornbluth for their failure to call out antisemitic protests that have taken place on their campuses.
“In short, they said: It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews,” Ackman said in a post on X. “This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide.”
Being called before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the three university leaders were all questioned about the rise in violent antisemitic demonstrations on their campuses since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed over 1,200 people.
The remarks came after Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) pressed the trio on whether students had the right to free speech even when calling for the mass murders of African Americans,” a comparison to protestors on the campus calling for “global intifada,” against Jews.
Ackman went on to remind his followers of the definition of genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”
The Pershing Square Capital founder said the school leaders’ answers amplified the failures of the universities brought upon by themselves.
“The presidents’ answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership.”
“They must all resign in disgrace,” Ackman said before saying if it was a leader from one of his companies, they’d be gone within the hour.
“Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world? Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context,” he added.
“To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest.”
Ackman applauded the politicians for how they conducted the hearing, saying they showed “tremendous leadership and moral clarity in their statements,” and it was a “masterclass of how our government and democracy should operate.”
The billionaire’s anger towards the three school leaders was heightened by their behaviors as they sat opposite the elected officials.
“Throughout the hearing, the three behaved like hostile witnesses, exhibiting a profound disdain for the Congress with their smiles and smirks, and their outright refusal to answer basic questions with a yes or no answer.
Ackman has been a prominent figure in the fight against antisemitism in the US since the start of the Israel War, calling for the release of the names of Harvard students who blamed Israel for the attack and the suspension of a Harvard student newspaper editor.
In November, Ackman called for the editor of the Harvard Law Review to face disciplinary action after he was caught on video blocking the way of an individual purported to be a supporter of Israel during a demonstration.
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