Billionaire Harvard alum Bill Ackman may have spearheaded a successful campaign for the departure of Harvard President Claudine Gay, but the megadonor's plans for restoring his alma mater to its former glory are not over.
"Even with the resignation of Claudine Gay from [@Harvard] I am told @BillAckman isn't just declaring victory and walking away," FOX Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino wrote on X after Gay stepped down Tuesday. "He is planning next steps to repair the school's academic and cultural status, which has been getting crushed during Gay's tenure."
A spokesperson for Ackman did not deny Gasparino's reporting when reached by FOX Business, but declined to comment, saying they had "nothing to add at this time."
Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, received both his bachelor’s degree and MBA from Harvard.
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He has been outspoken against problems on Harvard's campus ever since 34 student organizations signed a statement issued by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups that began by blaming the "Israeli regime" for "all unfolding violence" in the hours after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel Oct. 7.
On November 4, Ackman sent a letter to President Gay voicing his concerns over antisemitism, free speech and the impact of the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (OEDIB) at Harvard. On December 3, he sent a follow-up letter to Gay sharing feedback he had gathered from senior members of Harvard faculty, noting that she had not replied to or acknowledged his previous message.
Days later, Ackman began calling for Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth to "resign in disgrace" following their disastrous appearances at a House committee hearing on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses on Dec. 5, when all three refused to say that calling for the genocide of Jews on their respective campuses breached their rules and amounted to harassment.
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In the aftermath, Ackman also suggested in a social media post that Gay had landed her job due to Harvard's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, and criticized the practice of narrowing candidate pools by refusing to consider some applicants based on criteria like race and gender.
The Ivy League institution has also faced heat for years over its use of affirmative action in admissions as part of its DEI policies, and it was sued for allegedly penalizing Asian American students due to the practice. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled over the summer that Harvard's race-based admissions system was unconstitutional.
Ackman also wrote a letter to Harvard's governing boards of directors last month, pushing for Gay's termination over her handling of antisemitism and further calling for the university to shut down its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (OEDIB), saying it is "a major contributing source of discriminatory practices on campus and highly damaging to the culture and sense of community at Harvard."
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Harvard's governing board continued to support Gay remaining as president for weeks but accepted her resignation on Tuesday amid mounting allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly work. Gay will remain at Harvard as a faculty member.
As for what changes Ackman might call for at Harvard next, Gasparino wrote on X, "Stay tuned."
FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.
