Claudine Gay Resigning Won't Restore Harvard's Reputation, Bill Ackman Says

Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of hedge fund management company Pershing Square Holdings, said on Saturday that despite mounting calls for Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign, it won't save the university's reputation.

Calls for Gay to step down come after the university faced criticism for their response to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. As of Saturday, at least 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli government. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, the AP said.

In the wake of the attack, U.S. universities, including Harvard, have witnessed a wave of protests, provoking strong reactions from each side. Harvard and President Gay have faced fierce backlash after a coalition of student groups at Harvard released a letter shortly after the first attack, blaming Israel for the deadly attacks by Hamas. A spokesperson for the group later wrote in a statement that the group "staunchly opposes violence against civilians — Palestinian, Israeli, or other."

However, Harvard's response was criticized as the university did not address the letter directly until three days after it was posted. Despite Gay condemning "the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas" as "abhorrent," she has faced increasing calls for resignation over her response to the attacks.

In a long-form tweet on Saturday, Ackman, who has publicly criticized the Harvard Corporation board for its unanimous support of Gay, stated that if Gay resigns it won't restore the university's reputation.

"If @Harvard President Gay resigns, it does not restore Harvard's reputation. That would only begin when the Corporation board members acknowledge that they made a bad choice of leader, which they have been unwilling to do," Ackman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Newsweek has reached out to Ackman and Harvard University President's office via email for comment.

Ackman continued by stating that the way to repair the university's reputation is to acknowledge the failures and take action, adding that by waiting for President Gay to resign, the board members are not taking responsibility.

"The first step to reputational repair is to acknowledge one's failures, analyze what went wrong, and then take definitive steps going forward to ensure the error is not repeated," Ackman added.

Ackman's involvement with Harvard stems from his personal and professional ties to the university. Ackman is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent and an alumnus of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, and has been a significant donor to the university, gifting millions to the Ivy League school in exchange for a say in administrative matters, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Ackman's comments came after Gay testified before a House committee on December 5 alongside University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth.

The presidents were called before the committee to answer accusations of failing to protect Jewish students amid a reported rise in antisemitism on college campuses since the outbreak of Israel's war in Gaza, which is facing growing criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.

They faced a backlash over their responses, particularly to a line of questioning from Representative Elise Stefanik, who repeatedly asked whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" would violate the schools' codes of conduct.

Magill, who resigned earlier this month amid criticism of her testimony, had called it a "context-dependent question."

Gay gave a similar response. "It can be, depending on the context," she said. Pressed further, she said that Harvard takes action when the speech "crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation."

During the lengthy hearing, Gay said that Harvard embraces "a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful."

Gay later apologized in an interview with the student newspaper, saying she "got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures."