Bill Ackman calls out antisemitism at alma mater Harvard, foresees funding crunch

Jewish students are being bullied and physically intimidated, says Ackman.

Harvard alumnus and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman urged university president Claudine Gay to take immediate steps to reduce “antisemitism on campus”.

In a post on X (formally Twitter), Ackman said after spending several hours with the students and faculty last week, he felt the “situation at Harvard is dire and getting worse, much worse than I had realized”. According to him, Jewish students are being bullied and physically intimidated. “Four weeks after the barbaric terrorist acts of October 7, I have lost confidence that you and the University will do what is required,” he said.

Ackman said many Jewish students felt the need to remove their mezuzahs, yarmulkes, Stars of David, and other overt evidence of their religion and heritage on campus and in Cambridge to avoid being exposed to discrimination and bullying.

He also stated that the student Slack message boards were “replete with antisemitic statements, memes, and images”. He cited pro-Palestinian protesters on campus who chanted, “Intifada! Intifada! Intifada! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free!”.

Ackman alleged that Harvard had given a “commitment to free expression” for the lack of action against those protesting against Israel. However, he argued that Harvard had not embraced a serious commitment to free speech, particularly in recent years.

Calling out Harvard for its failure to “condemn the barbaric acts of 7 October”,  Ackman said, “The failure of your communications to the public and the University coupled with the fact that the first tangible action by the University was to protect those who blamed Israel has created a belief among the Jewish and Israeli community at Harvard that they are not deemed welcome nor worthy of protection by the University.”

Ackman suggested that Harvard administrators warn students of the potential consequences.

“Because Harvard students are notoriously focused on their job and career prospects post-graduation, disciplinary actions by the administration for failure to meet the University’s standards for appropriate conduct that become part of a student’s permanent record should serve as an effective deterrent to overt antisemitic acts on campus. No law firm, corporation or graduate program will hire or admit an antisemitic or racist student,” he said.

Ackman, who founded Pershing Square Capital Management in 2003, said,  “Harvard has failed in recent weeks to meet its Title VI obligations which threatens a major source of the University’s funding.”

Read the full letter here.

However, Ackman said he did not believe that antisemitism is widespread among the student body and faculty at Harvard. “Rather, I believe that a small minority of students, faculty, and staff are antisemitic and the administration’s inaction in confronting the problem head on have emboldened this antisemitic subset of the community to escalate their antisemitic actions because there have been no consequences for doing so. Actions speak much louder than words. Members of the Harvard community have heard some words, but experienced no actions of substance to address antisemitism on campus,” he stated while recommending steps to improve the situation.

CNN reported that when contacted, Harvard directed the website to earlier statements from Gay and Harvard’s Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick about community conduct.

Earlier Gay said she had convened a group of advisors for a plan to combat antisemitism on campus.

“As we grapple with this resurgence of bigotry, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: Antisemitism has no place at Harvard. For years, this university has done too little to confront its continuing presence. No longer,” Gay said on October 27 in a speech at Harvard Hillel.