Bill Ackman.
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Bill Ackman may have gotten what he wanted now that Claudine Gay is no longer Harvard’s president.But the billionaire insists that he’s not a right wing bully.Ackman had been waging a highly public, pressure campaign against Gay’s leadership.
Bill Ackman may have pushed for Claudine Gay to lose her post as Harvard president, but the billionaire insists he wasn’t being a right-wing bully.
“I am not right wing. I operate only in good faith, and I am not a bully. I just pay attention to the facts and see where they take me,” Ackman wrote on X on Tuesday.
The Harvard alumnus was responding to a post by journalist Medhi Hasan, who slammed Ackman’s crusade against on-campus antisemitism in the US.
Ackman appeared to set his sights on MIT President Sally Kornbluth after news of Gay’s resignation broke out, which prompted a response from Hasan.
“This is what happens when liberal universities roll over for right-wing, bad faith bullies. It’s what happens when anyone anywhere rolls over to try and appease a bully,” Hasan wrote.
I am not right wing. I operate only in good faith, and am I am not a bully. I just pay attention to the facts and see where they take me. And Harvard didn’t roll over if you have been paying attention. She had the board’s publicly stated unanimous support only two or so weeks…
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 3, 2024
On Tuesday, Gay announced her resignation as Harvard’s president. Gay assumed the role in July, but her six-month tenure has seen her battling criticisms of Harvard’s on-campus antisemitism and plagiarism allegations.
In her resignation letter, Gay said it was “frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”
Ackman has been one of Gay’s loudest critics. The fund manager has, since November, written three open letters to Harvard chastising Gay’s actions.
“In her short tenure as President, Claudine Gay has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history,” Ackman wrote in his third open letter.
Representatives for Ackman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.