A Yale University professor has accused billionaire Bill Ackman of acting like a “bully” over his violent campaign against Harvard University and its ousted president Claudine Gay.
“Bill Ackman has a detrimental effect on American education. He thinks his money equates to wisdom, and even if it doesn't, money gives him the right to bully at will. “We think it will be given,” said Greg Gonsalves, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health. I wrote to X on tuesday.
“It's time to stand up to people like him. He's disgusting,” Gonsalves wrote, sparking a public spat with the billionaire Pershing Square Capital Management founder.
Mr. Ackman defended himself and asked Mr. Gonsalves to clarify: “What did I say about Harvard President Claudine Gay that had to do with money?”
“What is 'harmful' about my so-called influence on American education, other than elevating the anti-gay concerns of thousands of Harvard students, faculty, and alumni?”
Then Gonsalves fired back. share: “Let me rest. No one pays any attention to you except your money.”
“Then why are you paying attention to me?” Ackman refutedand argued that his fortune (which Forbes magazine estimates at about $4.1 billion) only gives him the ability to “tell the truth.”
Gonsalves did not give up and concluded: You are an oligarchy,” he said, again accusing Ackman of using his wealth to influence the expulsion of gays.
“Your money and power gives you power and undue influence. You misinterpret it as a sign of respect when you're just pandering to the wealthy. Just own it. You neither a wise man nor a man of the people,” Gonsalves wrote.
Ackman did not respond to Golzalves' final post in a lengthy exchange shared Tuesday night.
The newspaper has contacted Gonsalves for comment.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay announced her resignation Tuesday, ending a six-month tenure that ended after weeks of controversy over campus politics and her own academic performance.
Calls for Gay to resign from his position at the prestigious university began in the fall, when Hamas issued a letter holding Israel “full responsibility” for the October 7 terrorist attack. Gays did not condemn the more than 30 student organizations at Harvard University that made the announcement.
She then appeared before Congress on December 5, but did not say that those who called for the massacre of Jews on campus would be punished.
Gay, 53, later faced more than 50 plagiarism charges for his academic work while attending Harvard University.
Ackman is notorious for being a vocal critic of gays, and since Gay backed more than 30 student groups behind the controversial letter that ultimately led to his leadership, Nov. 4, 12 He wrote three open letters to his alma mater on March 3rd and December 10th. Schools lost a reported $1 billion in endowments.
Ackman condemned gay leadership in each message, blame By failing to “condemn the most despicable and barbaric terrorism the world has ever seen,” she disrupted the school's operations and threatened “Jewish students, faculty, staff, and others…with their own safety.” “I am afraid of that.''
Jewish organizations and Harvard students are reportedly celebrating as well following Gay's resignation.
The Harvard Jewish Alumni Association, which represents thousands of former Jewish students, said Gay's resignation ends an “unfortunate chapter” in the prestigious Ivy League school's nearly 400-year history.
“While Claudine Gay repeatedly failed to condemn calls for the complete and utter annihilation of the Jewish people, she tacitly encouraged those who sought to spread hatred at Harvard University. “Many Jews no longer feel safe to study, identify, and fully participate in the Harvard University community,” spokeswoman Roni Brann said in a statement.
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a Jewish activist who served on the City University of New York Board of Trustees for 15 years, was more cynical, saying that Gaye's resignation “was not because of a cry of genocide, but after numerous plagiarism accusations. I just came,” he said. the victimization of Jews by protesters on her campus; ”
“It's like they didn't arrest Al Capone for murder. They caught him for tax evasion,” Wiesenfeld told the Post on Tuesday, referring to the notorious gangster.
Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber will serve as interim president, the university announced. Gay, who has been a professor of political science since 2006, will remain on the faculty.
