As founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, Bill Ackman is no stranger to activist campaigns at his firm’s portfolio companies. And now the 58-year-old seems to be bringing that expertise to bear on his alma mater, Harvard, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Ackman has called for the removal of Harvard Corporation Chair Penny Pritzker and warned of broader implications for institutional governance and financial stewardship in higher education.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Pershing Square Capital Management founder criticised the university’s response to mounting political scrutiny and internal unrest, particularly its handling of pro-Palestinian activism and allegations of antisemitism on campus.
“You have to have accountability for what has gone on at Harvard,” Ackman told Bloomberg Television. “The notion that [Pritzker] is still chairing the Harvard board and leading the charge is a big negative.”
Ackman, a high-profile Harvard alumnus and long-time donor, has emerged as one of the university’s most vocal critics, especially since the October 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict, when he began publicly denouncing what he saw as Harvard’s failure to respond decisively to rising antisemitism. His criticisms have since broadened into a sustained campaign against what he calls ideological capture and financial mismanagement at the institution.
The hedge fund titan has pointed to the university’s $53bn endowment and expansive DEI programs as evidence of bureaucratic bloat and declining academic rigour. He has also taken aim at Harvard’s legal clash with the Trump administration, after the university sued to block what it characterised as “unconstitutional” demands tied to federal funding.
Ackman, however, argued that the university should have engaged with the government’s concerns in good faith, including on matters such as antisemitism, governance, and institutional neutrality.
“They should have acknowledged that Trump made some good points,” he told CNBC, suggesting that Harvard’s combative posture may now jeopardise its federal funding and tax-exempt status.
“If a university becomes a political advocacy organisation, you have to ask whether it should continue to receive taxpayer support,” Ackman said.
