Harvard has lost a staggering $1 BILLION in donations over its handling of anti-Semitism on campus, alumni Bill Ackman claims as president Claudine Gay faces pressure to resign

Billionaire Bill Ackman is continuing his campaign to oust Harvard President Claudine Gay over her fight against anti-Semitism on campus, claiming she cost them serious donor money.

The 53-year-old academic survived a scheduled Harvard board meeting on Sunday amid calls for her ouster, but her future at the Ivy League school remains uncertain following her disastrous congressional hearing.

In a letter Ackman sent to his alma mater and mailed to X on Sunday, he argued that Gay’s testimony was not just a matter of character but cost the school money.

“President Gay’s failures have led to the cancellation, suspension and revocation of billions of dollars in donations to the university,” Ackman wrote.

“I am personally aware of more than a billion dollars in discontinued donations from a small group of Harvard’s most generous alumni, Jewish and non-Jewish,” he added.

“I have been copied and blind-copied in numerous letters and emails to the university from alumni who have written strongly worded letters to Gay and/or the Board of Directors refusing donations.”

Ackman accused Gay of “doing more damage to Harvard’s reputation than anyone in the university’s history.”

The billionaire demanded that the university’s board of directors review Gay’s history, including allegations of plagiarism and discrimination against those who do not meet diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) principles.

Ackman said: “As dean, Gay showed no respect for basic American legal principles when she fired Harvard Law School professor Ronald Sullivan as residential dean for taking on Harvey Weinstein’s legal defense. “President Gay should hope that someday when she needs advice, she can get quality representation for herself.”

Ackman also cited the case of former Winthrop House dean of faculty Ronald Sullivan, who in 2019 accused Gay of firing him from his position because of his work on Harvey Weinstein’s defense team.

The law professor, who was the first black dean of Harvard School, accused Gay and college dean Rakesh Khurana of lying about his motives for firing him when they claimed it was because he created a toxic work environment.

“The actions were cowardly and cowardly, and Dean Gay and Dean Khurana continually and repeatedly lied to students, and they know better,” he said, according to The Harvard Crimson.

“Their problem was that I represented an unpopular figure… They said it to my face, and other senior members said it to my face, and then they turned around and lied to the students.”

Harvard denies the decision was prompted by Sullivan’s collaboration with Weinstein, which sparked protests on campus. Sullivan remains a law professor at Harvard.

In his letter to the Harvard board, Ackman also cited Harvard’s sharp decline in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) college free speech rankings since Gay took office. Although the school has never been ranked number one on the list, it achieved its worst ever ranking, finishing in dead last place.

FIRE said: “Harvard ended its downward move in dramatic fashion, finishing in last place with its worst score ever: 0.00 out of a possible 100.00. This earns it the infamous distinction of being the only school to be rated as having a ‘terrible’ speech environment this year.”

Gay, a professor of government and African and African American studies, took office as Harvard’s first black president back in July. She became interested in DEI policy and created the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Ackman stated that “OEDIB’s actions have resulted in preferences and favoritism toward certain racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ groups at the expense of other groups, and have caused some members of the Harvard community to feel included at the expense of others who are excluded.”

The billionaire was accused of racism when he suggested that Gay was hired only because she fit the DEO’s profile.

In his latest open letter, he said: “Recently, several bloggers and other commentators accused me of racism when I revealed that the board in the search process that led to the hiring of President Gay would not be considering a candidate for President Gay’s position. president who did not meet DEI criteria.

“I have now confirmed from multiple sources that the search committee that led to President Gay’s appointment excluded candidates from the process who did not meet DEI criteria.”

DailyMail.com has not independently verified Ackman’s claim.

Ackman also shared accusations of plagiarism leveled against Gay by bloggers Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet, who claim the Harvard executive used identical language in her 1997 dissertation.

Bloggers accuse Gay of using almost verbatim statements from authors Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam, as well as scientist Carol Swain.

Swain responded to the claims on Twitter, writing: ‘I just learned about the analysis of #ClaudineGay’s work and accusations of plagiarism. I have not read the articles or books referred to. However, two things come to mind: imitation is believed to be the highest form of flattery, and secondly, Dr. Gay’s committee, reviewers and colleagues should have identified these alleged violations.”

The author added: “I would like to know if (Gay) has quoted me in her published writings on issues of constituency and representation. This would have had much longer term consequences for my career. In academia, we are rewarded based on citations.”

Gay apologized for her appearance at last week’s hearing, but the backlash continued.

On Sunday t.Two truckloads of billboards reenacting her speeches to Congress were dispatched during UMass campus hours.

Gay, Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were called before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday by lawmakers concerned about reports of rising anti-Semitism at top universities.

They faced heated questioning from committee chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), but were unable to prove that calling for the genocide of Jews on campus definitely constituted persecution.

“This is just the beginning of the fight against the pervasive rot of anti-Semitism that has destroyed America’s most ‘prestigious’ institutions of higher learning,” Stefanik tweeted Saturday night.

Adding: “Harvard and MIT are doing the right thing. The world is watching.

Just minutes after Magill announced her resignation, Upenn Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bock also resigned.

Bok Vice Chairman Julie Beren Platt has been appointed interim chairman of the board.

In a statement released Saturday evening, Magill wrote: “It has been an honor to serve as president of this wonderful institution.

“It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni and community members to advance Penn’s vital mission.”

In his resignation letter, Bock called Magill “a good man” who is “not in the least bit anti-Semitic” but made a “mistake” after “months of relentless external attacks.”

Gay apologized for her remarks Thursday as the backlash intensified, telling the student newspaper The Crimson that she “became caught up in what at the time became an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures.”

“What I needed to do at that moment was to return to my guiding truth, which was that calls for violence against our Jewish community—threats to our Jewish students—have no place at Harvard and will never go unheeded.” ,’ she added.