Leading the protests, human rights activist Al Sharpton recently denounced billionaire investor Bill Ackman for criticizing the diversity initiatives at Harvard University and for his attempt to remove President Claudine Gay from office.
In an interview, Sharpton, 69, stated that Gay’s departure following weeks of harsh criticism is a symbol of the larger risk diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives throughout the United States are facing. Her departure is “a blow to the DEI movement that all of us in the civil rights community have been fighting for,” He continued, saying that he views the battle as “bigger than just her.”
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This week, Gay announced her resignation from her brief position as Harvard’s first Black president, following backlash over her handling of antisemitism on campus and plagiarism claims. She acknowledged her shortcomings in an editorial published in the New York Times on Wednesday, but she also stated that the campaign against her, in which Ackman had a leading role,– “was about more than one university and one leader.”
Around the afternoon, January 4, 2024, over two dozen demonstrators—some brandishing placards—formed a circle and marched outside the Manhattan headquarters of Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. Their calls for “No justice, no peace,” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down,” all the way down the street. Ackman vanished from sight, having announced on X that he would be traveling abroad.
At the demonstration, Smith Georges, 67, a Port-au-Prince, Haitian resident in New York, expressed his frustration at seeing Gay, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, rise to such a prominent position and then lose it so quickly.
“They’re so quick to bring her down,” he noted.
Activist Gwen Carr, who was also there, claimed to have met Gay in September at a Harvard function.
“I feel disappointed that they targeted her,” Of Gay’s departure, Carr stated.
Ackman is among Gay’s detractors who said that the school’s DEI hiring practices led to her appointment last year. They also took use of the occasion to demand an end to diversity programs in academia and private industry, arguing that such practices are inherently biased. Harvard’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging should be closed, according to Ackman’s lengthy post on X, and its employees should be dismissed. Elon Musk, the owner of the social media site, also stated that DEI is “not merely immoral, it is also illegal.”
The same conservative activists who supported the US Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate racial discrimination in college admissions are now focusing on business diversity initiatives, prompting their condemnation. Edward Blum, a legal activist, and the advocacy group Do No Harm have filed lawsuits against corporations, ranging from Morrison & Foerster to Pfizer Inc., contesting fellowship programs that aim to attract individuals from marginalized communities.
America First Legal, which was started by Stephen Miller, a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, has filed lawsuits against over 20 businesses, claiming that their attempts to increase the number of women and people of color in positions of leadership constitute discrimination. Businesses were not covered by the court’s June verdict prohibiting affirmative action on college campuses.
“The reason that we need DEI is because we had ‘D-E-N-Y,’” Sharpton stated. “We were denied the ability to get certain positions, to get contracts, to get jobs. So to act like we don’t need DEI is to whitewash the history of corporate America.”
https://d47d799175a16449fb154594da00542c.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Gay was subjected to intense criticism following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7. The US and the EU have branded Hamas as a terrorist organization. She was criticized for remaining silent after over thirty student organizations claimed that Israel was the only cause of the violence and after she failed to affirm at an antisemitic inquiry in the House that demands for the extermination of Jews were against university policy.
In her academic work, Gay has also been charged with plagiarism; fresh accusations of this kind were reported this week in the Washington Free Beacon.
On X, Ackman said that he would be, “delighted to sit with Mr. Sharpton and discuss any concerns he might have about anything I have said or done in connection with” Harvard and Gay. When asked for a comment, he didn’t answer immediately.
To determine if a meeting would be beneficial, Sharpton stated that he intended to schedule a call with other Black women and civil rights leaders in particular.
“If they feel it is productive and not some grandstanding, then we’ll be open to it,” Sharpton noted.
