It is time for a change in board leadership at Harvard, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday, saying the university has mishandled its disagreements with President Donald Trump.
Ackman, who is a Harvard alum, said it was the wrong move for the university to "receive a letter from the [Trump] administration and write back saying, 'We are doing nothing, and in fact, we are going to sue you.'"
Instead, according to Ackman, Harvard should have responded, "President Trump, you make some good points" and tried to reach a deal with him by committing to fix some of the legitimate problems he pointed out.
Ackman particularly called out Penny Pritzker, who leads Harvard Corp., the body that oversees the school, for failures in its finances and mission and emphasized that it is "time for a change in leadership in the board at Harvard."
Ackman added, "The mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker," pointing out that "if this was any other kind of corporation," she would no longer be the leader considering a string of failed policies in her management.
Ackman also said that "Harvard became, over time, a political advocacy organization for one party" and thus does not deserve to be a place that receives a tax-exempt status from the federal government.
Ackman has been critical of Harvard since the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres carried out by Hamas when it invaded Israel, and the university became embroiled in controversy over demonstrations supporting the terrorist organization, Bloomberg reported.
Harvard sued the government last month, saying it unlawfully suspended more than $2 billion in federal funding after it refused to comply with "unconstitutional demands" to overhaul governance, discipline and hiring policies as well as diversity programs.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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