After successfully spearheading the calls for Havard’s former President to step down, Billionaire Bill Ackman is coming after the students. The Harvard alum wants the University to release a list of the members of the student groups who signed a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ violent assault.
The billionaire wants the students blacklisted to make sure they don’t work on Wall Street. Ackman took to X to call out the University. He claimed that several CEOs have asked if the school will release the lists of members of the organizations.
In addition, Ackman said the CEOs requested the names to “ensure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.” “One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield,” Ackman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “When issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists.”
“If the members support the letter, they should make the names of the signatories public,” Ackman added. “So their views are publicly known.” The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management continued by defending his messages. Ackman said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t hire students from groups that signed the letter.
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Following a backlash to the statement, some student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements. Following Ackman’s posts, multiple business leaders showed support for the demand.
These include the CEOs of shopping club FabFitFun, health tech startup EasyHealth, and Dovehill Capital Management. “I would like to know,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said on X. “So I know never to hire these people.”
While Ackman and several CEOs demand that Harvard release the list of members in the organization, others kick against it. They warn that naming the students whose groups backed the statement could put the students in harm’s way. Also, they argue it does not account for differences of opinion within the student groups.
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Larry Summers, the Harvard-trained economist who drew attention to the “morally unconscionable” Harvard student statement, is now preaching caution. Summers wrote he yields to no one in his disdain of the statement made on behalf of the student groups.
“But please, everybody take a deep breath,” Summers said in a post on X. “Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out.” Summers added, “In some cases, those approving did not understand exactly what they were approving.”
Also, Summers, the former president of Harvard and US Treasury Secretary, added that “probably some were naive and foolish.” “This isn’t a time where it’s constructive to vilify individuals, and I am sorry that is happening,” Summers said. Similarly, Harvard professor and legal scholar Laurence Tribe condemned calls to publish students’ names.
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In addition, Tribe revealed he initially agreed with Ackman to call on Harvard to release students’ names. However, on reflection, he decided not to join the push to publicize their names. “Any number of students caught up in this misguided campaign probably didn’t even know there was a statement,” he said.
“Others no doubt didn’t focus on, much less understand, what they were signing.” “Naive and stupid as they may have been,” Tribe added. “I now think it would be an overreaction to penalize them.” The controversy comes in response to a joint statement released by a coalition of Harvard student groups.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the statement said. However, following a backlash to the statement, some student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.
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