Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says his alma mater Harvard refused to fire president Claudine Gay because the school’s governing board didn’t want people to think it was “kowtowing” to him.
“I have been told now by two reporters that one of the factors that made it challenging for the @Harvard board to fire Gay was that they were concerned it would look like they were kowtowing to me,” Ackman wrote on his X social media account on Monday evening.
Ackman, who waged a public campaign by penning an open letter to Harvard’s board on Sunday demanding Gay’s ouster, claimed that one of the trustees said: “Had Bill just stopped tweeting, we would have come to the right answer.”
“So much for Veritas,” Ackman wrote. Veritas, the Latin word for “truth,” is emblazoned on Harvard’s official shield.
The Post has sought comment from Harvard.
The school’s governing board unanimously stood by Gay on Tuesday, saying that she would remain in her post despite anger over her testimony before Congress last week.
In his letter that was posted to his X social media account on Sunday, Ackman wrote that Gay “has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history.”
Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, found support from fellow billionaire Elon Musk, the X owner and Tesla CEO.
“Your letter simply articulated, with great clarity, the severe concerns held by many,” Musk wrote — referencing the open letter Ackman wrote last week.
Musk followed up with an X post that included the hashtag #DeFundHarvard.
Ackman posted the message on Monday to his nearly 1 million followers on X — many of whom expressed support for his position while demanding the “defunding” of Harvard.
Gay struggled to answer a question from lawmakers last week after she was asked whether calls for genocide against Jewish people constituted a violation of Harvard’s code of conduct.
Gay testified alongside MIT President Sally Kornbluth and UPenn President Liz Magill — both of whom also offered similar answers.
Magill resigned as UPenn president over the weekend while MIT’s board released a statement in support of Kornbluth.
“Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values,” the Harvard board said in its statement on Tuesday announcing the decision to back Gay.
“President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism.”
Over the weekend, Ackman sought to sway MIT’s board to dump Kornbluth.
“Let’s make a deal. If you promptly terminate President [Sally] Kornbluth, I promise I won’t write you a letter,” Ackman wrote on his social media account.
Ackman has not been able to persuade MIT’s board, which praised Kornbluth on Thursday for her “excellent work in leading our community, including in addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, all of which we reject utterly at MIT.”
“She has our full and unreserved support,” the board said.