Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says he can no longer be “associated with” the Democratic Party over his support for diversity, equity and “racial” inclusion efforts.
In an interview on CNBC Friday, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management said that the Dems have “turned” into vigilante martyrs.
“I was a Bill Clinton Democrat and what the party has turned into is not something I want to be associated with,” he said on “Squawk Box.”
The 57-year-old Ackman announced he plans to form a think tank to investigate higher education in the US following his success in forcing ousted Harvard president Claudine Gay to resign.
Ackman has been vocal in his criticism of his alma mater for not doing enough to protect its Jewish students from antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel and subsequent military operations in Gaza.
He has also spoken out against Harvard’s use of diversity and inclusion programs, which he argues stifle meritocracy.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman announced his intention to form a think tank to investigate higher education. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
To help combat this issue, Ackman announced on Friday his intention to form a team complete with the chief executive officer and board of directors that will go “after this issue in a very aggressive way.
“It will be a thinking and doing tank,” he said on the program.
“We will study these issues and come up with solutions to the problems, and we will implement them.”
Ackman previously argued in a lengthy social media post that Harvard’s policies on diversity, equity and inclusion are “the root cause of antisemitism” at the Ivy League institution.
“DEI is racist because reverse racism is racist, even if it’s against white people (and it’s incredible that I have to point this out),” he wrote.
Ackman’s move will follow his success in getting Harvard[residentClaudineGayresigned.REUTERS
He went on to blame the DEI movement as “an important contributor to our growing divide,” noting that it has fueled hatred – “one of the most important drivers of racism.”
Ackman ended his post by calling for the resignation of pro-Gay Harvard Corporation Board members, even after his poor congressional testimony about antisemitic protests on campus.
“The Board Chair, Penny Pritzker, should resign along with the other board members who led the campaign to keep Claudine Gay, orchestrated a strategy to threaten the media, bypass the process to evaluate plagiarism, and instead contribute to the damage that has been done,” according to Ackman.
“These are the minimum changes needed to start repairing the damage that has been done,” he said.
He also supported four alumni in their bid to join the university’s board of trustees — the school’s second-highest governing body, behind the embattled Harvard Corporation, with the power to approve or reject the hiring of Harvard’s next president.
Ackman argued in a lengthy social media post that his alma mater’s policies on diversity, equity and inclusion were “the cause of antisemitism” at Harvard University. Getty Images
The four candidates — Zoe Bedell, Logan Leslie, Julia Pollak and Alec Williams — are running on platforms to protect free speech, protect students from bullying and harassment, and address financial mismanagement, including the $50.7 billion school endowment.
“Harvard needs to change. Bringing fresh young blood into the board of supervisors can help with that,” Ackman, who has donated about $50 million to Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters late Tuesday.
He added that the candidates he supports are “talented, accomplished and motivated people, and their candidacy will be a wake-up call for Harvard.”
The four candidates range in age from 26 to 38, and all have served in the US military.
To run for election to the board, they must collect at least 3,300 signatures from Ivy League school graduates — equivalent to 1% of those eligible to vote — by the end of January.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
