Bill Ackman says he has “good reason to believe” plagiarism allegations against his wife, former tenured Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Neri Oxman, came from an inside source at the esteemed university. said.
Business Insider on Friday expanded its investigation into Oxman's 2010 MIT doctoral thesis, finding that apart from the four paragraphs of improperly cited information it pointed out in its initial investigation, academic writing was copy-pasted. It was discovered that there were approximately 28 other cases where the same was said to have occurred. At least 15 of them are taken from his Wikipedia entry.
Ackman, who has been publicly campaigning against MIT and calling for the president's removal over anti-Semitism on campus, responded to the new allegations with the following statement: Post to X “We have received new information that strongly suggests a Business Insider source is at @MIT.”
The billionaire hedge fund manager remained vague about this “new information” but said: It was later revealed: “We do not yet know whether this commitment to my wife, @NeriOxman, and her family is being led by the @MIT board, its chair Mark Gorenberg and/or the administration, or specific members of the faculty. .”
The paper also reached out to MIT, Ackman, and her latest venture, OXMAN, a biological and materials engineering company, for comment.
Oxman has yet to respond publicly. New plagiarism allegations by insiders According to the outlet, her 330-page MIT doctoral thesis contains text that is “substantially identical” to text found on at least 15 different Wikipedia pages.
Insiders pointed to one example of plagiarism on page 81 of Oxman's dissertation. “Material-based design calculations,“ The book, published in 2010, contained two unattributed sentences that had previously appeared on Wikipedia.
Oxman writes: “Both warp and weft threads are found in the final product. By spacing the warp threads more closely, they can completely cover the weft threads that bind them, resulting in a warp surface fabric. Conversely, the warp threads When unrolled, the weft threads slip off and completely cover the warp threads, resulting in weft-faced fabrics such as tapestries and kilim rugs.
On the other hand, the Wikipedia page for “weaving” says, “Both warp and weft threads are found in the final product. By spacing the warp threads more closely together, they can completely cover the weft threads that join the warp threads, allowing the warp threads to On the other hand, when the warp threads are spread out, the weft threads slide down and completely cover the warp threads, resulting in a weft-like weft fabric, like a tapestry or a kilim rug.''
Without a citation, the text falls under MIT's definition of plagiarism, which the university says in its handbook is punishable by “suspension or expulsion from the institute.”
According to Insider, Oxman didn't just lift the text. She also took an illustration from Wikipedia's “Heat Flux” article without crediting her source.
Just the day before, Oxman had apologized for inappropriately quoting four paragraphs in his paper following publication of Insider's initial findings.
“I regret and apologize for these mistakes,” the 47-year-old Israeli-born academic wrote Thursday, adding that he would “request MIT to make any necessary corrections.”
Shortly after, Ackman praised his wife as a “human being,” a move that came after she accused former Harvard University president Claudine Gay of similar accusations of plagiarism in her own academic work.
Last week, after it was revealed that a gay man would no longer be president of Harvard University. Ackman, who plans to remain on the Ivy League faculty and maintain his nearly $900,000 salary, told the X show that Gay should leave Harvard altogether, citing “serious plagiarism issues.”
“Students are forced to leave school at a much lower cost,” Ackman said. I have written. “Rewarding her with her well-paid faculty position sets a very bad precedent for Harvard's academic integrity.”
The billionaire hedge fund manager's anti-gay crusade began shortly after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, with a group of more than 30 Harvard students claiming the terrorist organization was “fully responsible” for the massacre. It was later strengthened further when it co-signed a letter stating that Israel. Harrowing Congressional Testimony About Anti-Semitic Protests on Campus.
MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth also attended Congressional testimony in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 2023, stating, “Calls for the genocide of Jews do not constitute bullying or harassment under the MIT Code.'' He was criticized for implying that there was a possibility. Act according to context. ”
Mr. Ackman, one of the presidents' most vocal opponents, has since called for Mr. Kornbluth's firing, even though in his view they are not doing enough to stamp out anti-Semitism on campus. are doing.
“Let’s make a deal. If we promptly dismiss the president. [Sally] Kornbluth, I promise not to write to you,” Ackman wrote to X last month.
Oxman, who was born in Israel, has not been involved in the controversy over anti-Semitism at MIT, where she was a tenured professor from 2017 to 2021, but she has posted links to pro-Israel messages on her X account. and posted video testimonies of suspects. Sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists against an Israeli woman on October 7th.
