Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman has doubled down on his call to release the names of the anti-Israel Harvard students, the New York Post reports.
The head of Pershing Square Capital Management and a growing number of other Wall Street CEOs want the names released so that they can blackball them, CNN reports.
In response to a Harvard law student calling Ackman's appeal “harassment,” the billionaire retorted on X: “It is not harassment to seek to understand the character of the candidates that you are considering for employment. Would you hire someone who blamed the despicable violent acts of a terrorist group on the victims?”
“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said.
“I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said on X. Neman is one of at least 12 Wall Street CEOs who are demanding the names of the Harvard students be released.
The controversy arose after a coalition of 34 Harvard student groups, called the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups, released a joint statement following the attacks by Hamas that have killed more than 1,200 Israelis and 27 American citizens.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups wrote.
They went on to say that millions of Palestinians living in Gaza have been “forced to live in an open-air prison. The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years.” They called on Harvard to “take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”
The Harvard students issued their statement with a footnote at the bottom saying that the names of the “original signing organizations have been concealed at this time.”
'Doxxing Truck'
After the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups issued their shameful letter, a “doxxing truck” with digital billboards displaying the photos and names of the alleged signers, drove around Harvard's campus.
According to Harvard’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, at least five of the original 34 signatories withdrew their endorsements as of Tuesday night.
Following these initial denouncements, 3,000 Harvard students, 17 other groups at the university, and 500 faculty and staff signed a counter-statement attacking the initial anti-semitic letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups as “completely wrong and deeply offensive,” the Crimson reported.
Nearly 160 faculty members also voiced their concern, slamming Harvard’s tepid response to the anti-Israel disparagement, writing that it “can be seen as nothing less than condoning the mass murder of civilians based only on their nationality.”
“Public statements made by an organization of which you are a member can have a material, negative impact on your reputation,” Ackman emphasized.
Signatories
The New York Post published the list of the "pro-Hamas" groups at Harvard that signed the letter.
They are: African American Resistance Organization; Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College; Harvard Act on a Dream; Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Association; Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association; Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine; Harvard College Pakistan Student Association; Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association; Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association; Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society; Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine; Harvard Islamic Society; Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine; Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine; Harvard Jews for Liberation; Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus; Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus; Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus; Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus; Harvard Muslim Law School Association; Harvard Pakistan Forum; Harvard Prison Divest Coalition; Harvard South Asian Law Students Association; Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research; Harvard TPS Coalition; Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women’s Collective; Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo; Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance; Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association; Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee; Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society; Neighbor Program Cambridge; Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates; and Society of Arab Students.