A billionaire hedge fund manager is making waves on Twitter for asking Harvard University to share the names of students belonging to organizations that issued a letter placing full responsibility for the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
Pershing Square Holdings CEO Bill Ackman’s October 10th Twitter post came in response to a letter signed by more than 30 Harvard student groups holding “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” and calling on “the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”
In his post, which received more than 16 million views in just under 24 hours, Ackman said that he and other CEOs wanted to know the names of all students affiliated with the organizations that signed on the letter in order to avoid “inadvertently” hiring any of them in the future.
“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorist, who, we now learn, have beheaded babies, among other inconceivably despicable acts,” tweeted Ackman, whose wife Neri Oxman is Israeli-born.
Several other CEOs expressed their support for Ackman’s post, reported Forbes (www.bit.ly/48Mahrf), including Sweetgreen’s Jonathan Neman, EasyHealth’s David Duel and DoveHill Capital Management’s Jake Wurzak. Others who expressed indignation at the Harvard letter included Senator Ted Cruz who tweeted, “What the hell is wrong with Harvard? Given the choice between standing with Israel or supporting terrorists who are raping, kidnapping & killing thousands of women & children…31 student groups choose the terrorists. Their blazing hatred and antisemitism [is] utterly blinding.”
Not surprisingly, Ackman was criticized by some on Twitter, with user Gönenç Gürkaynak, a Muslim graduate of Harvard Law School accusing him of colluding with other CEOs to exclude particular groups of students, which he described as a violation of federal anti-trust laws. Still, others voiced their support for Ackman, a Harvard alumnus, who wrote his thesis on exploring the Jewish and Asian experience in the Harvard admissions process, as reported by Business Insider (www.bit.ly/45spc6Q ).
“They’ll just be waiting for the chance to sue you for some injustice or harassment you put upon them as their employer. Avoid them at all costs,” tweeted user Sarah T.
“I couldn’t believe this when I saw it,” wrote user Adam Lipkin C-PACE Guy. “This should be part of a background check. I wouldn’t want anybody that endorsed this message working for me.”
Twitter use Danielle Mikelian, who identified herself as a board member of one of the groups that signed on the letter, also commented on Ackman’s post, saying that she resigned her position and calling the letter “egregious.”
“I am sorry for the pain this caused,” tweeted Mikelian. “My organization did not have a formal process and I didn’t even see the statement until we had signed on.”
A second year student at Harvard Law School who comes from Armenia, Mikelian said that she prevented another student group from signing on the letter after seeing its contents. She noted that several other students had also tendered their board resignations because of its sentiments.
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