Last week’s congressional hearing on antisemitism has dominated the 24-hour news cycle. Conflicts between Israel and Hamas have led to protests on college campuses across America. Concerns related to antisemitism on college campuses rose to the highest levels of government, and led to the sacking of Liz Magill as president of the University of Pennsylvania.
On December 9th billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman retweeted a message from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, “One down. Two to go,” after the resignation of Magill. The message implied the presidents Claudine Gay at Harvard and Sally Korbluth of MIT could be next to get sacked:
On December 10th Ackman questioned the odds of the presidents of Harvard and MIT remaining in offices by the beginning of next year:
On December 11th Ackman retweeted an article by Chris Rufo pursuant to whether Claudine Gay was a plagiarist:
This morning Harvard’s board temporarily put an end to the drama, citing its unanimous support for Gay:
Embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay has gained the unanimous support of the university’s board, Harvard’s highest governing body said in a statement Tuesday, giving Gay significant cover to remain in her position after a tumultuous week in which many donors and politicians have called for her ouster.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the statement from the Harvard Corporation said. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
However, Ackman, a Harvard graduate, may have tied the board’s hands. The removal of a $100 million donation by a hedge fund magnate preceded the resignation of Magill. Had Harvard parted ways with Gay, optically, it may have looked like it was kowtowing to pressure from Ackman. He implied as much on his Twitter message on December 11th:
Politics aside, the saga over plagiarism claims and academic standards may have damaged Harvard’s brand. Good thing it have over $50 billion in endowment funds to fall back on. Concerns around ethics and plagiarism likely will not go away anytime soon. If Harvard isn’t immune to it then who is?
[…] Did Bill Ackman Save Harvard President Claudine Gay’s Job? […]