Bill Ackman: DEI, Root Cause of Antisemitism at Harvard

"The root cause of antisemitism" at Harvard is the university's policies on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), billionaire Bill Ackman wrote on X, where he called on his alma mater's governing board to be overhauled.

Ackman, the 57-year-old founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, applauded the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, but wrote that it wasn't only the almost 50 allegations of plagiarism against her that concerned him, but concerns that "DEI is racist."

Ackman specifically called for the resignation of the Harvard Corporation board members who supported Gay, even after her devastating congressional testimony about antisemitic protests on campuses, the New York Post pointed out.

"The E for 'equity' in DEI is about equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity," Ackman wrote on X. "DEI is racist because reverse racism is racism, even if it is against white people (and it is remarkable that I even need to point this out)."

Ackman added that "under DEI, one's degree of oppression is determined based upon where one resides on a so-called intersectional pyramid of oppression where whites, Jews, and Asians are deemed oppressors, and a subset of people of color, LGBTQ people, and/or women are deemed to be oppressed."

He further said that "under DEI's ideology, any policy, program, educational system, economic system, grading system, admission policy, (and even climate change due its disparate impact on geographies and the people that live there), etc. that leads to unequal outcomes among people of different skin colors is deemed racist."

The result of this, Ackman said, is that "according to DEI, capitalism is racist, Advanced Placement exams are racist, IQ tests are racist, corporations are racist, or in other words, any merit-based program, system, or organization which has or generates outcomes for different races that are at variance with the proportion these different races represent in the population at large is by definition racist under DEI's ideology."

Ackman added that he thinks the university's Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, which Gay created, should be shut down and that universities should seek out "capable business people for the role of president."

"The Board should not be principally composed of individuals who share the same politics and views about DEI," he wrote. "The new board members should be chosen in a transparent process with the assistance of the 30-person Board of Overseers."

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