Harvard president's handling of antisemitism has cost school more than $1 billion: Ackman

Billionaire investor and influential Harvard alum Bill Ackman continued his push for his alma mater to terminate President Claudine Gay over the weekend, claiming her handling of antisemitism on campus since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel has cost the university more than a billion dollars in donations.

In a letter to Harvard's governing boards of directors posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, Ackman argued Gay "has done more damage to the reputation" of the institution than any other individual in its nearly 500-year history, going through a litany of criticisms over her leadership which he says has contributed to major donors withdrawing significant gifts that are adding up.

"President Gay’s failures have led to billions of dollars of cancelled, paused, and withdrawn donations to the university," Ackman wrote. "I am personally aware of more than a billion dollars of terminated donations from a small group of Harvard’s most generous Jewish and non-Jewish alumni."

He added, "I have been copied and blind copied on numerous letters and emails to the University from alums who have written scathing letters to Gay and/or the Board withdrawing donations."

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Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, began calling for the resignations of Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth since their testimonies at a House committee hearing on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, where all three refused to say that calling for the genocide of Jews on their respective campuses breached their rules and amounted to harassment.

Penn's Magill stepped down as president on Saturday, but will keep her position as a tenured faculty member at the university's law school.

In his letter Sunday, Ackman doubled down on his earlier suggestion that Gay landed the job as Harvard president due to the institution's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. 

He further called for the university to shut down its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (OEDIB), saying it is "a major contributing source of discriminatory practices on campus and highly damaging to the culture and sense of community at Harvard."

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Ackman said the Harvard board had a meeting on Sunday that would continue into Monday.

While Harvard has faced intense pressure from several donors, students, faculty, alums and even members of Congress to make a change in leadership following Gay's testimony before Congress, the board has also received input from those who support keeping the president in place.

Nearly 700 Harvard faculty members signed a Dec. 10 letter sent to the board, urging the panel not to fire Gay.

"We, the undersigned faculty, urge you in the strongest possible terms to defend the independence of the university and to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay," the letter obtained by FOX News reads. "The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces."

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Harvard did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment on Ackman's latest letter.