Billionaire Bill Ackman is starting a think tank to advance his views on antisemitism and DEI in higher education.
The hedge fund manager has been outspoken about what he views as rampant antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, even leading a campaign to have Harvard President Claudine Gay fired in part over her response to anti-Israel protests on campus. In the weeks following the attack, he also set his sights on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which he decried as “racist” against white people.
In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box Friday, he told Andrew Ross Sorkin he plans to “go after these issues in a very aggressive way.”
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“I would say, I was extraordinarily committed before. [Now] I’m undeterred,” he said. “And actually, I’m standing up an organization very shortly to focus on precisely this.”
Asked what form this organization would take, he called it a “think-and-do tank,” adding: “It’s going to be an activist, and we’re going to study these issues, and we’re going to come up with solutions to problems and we’re going to implement.”
Ackman, who heads Pershing Square Capital Management, said he planned to rent additional space for the organization and hire a CEO and board of directors. He added that he isn’t afraid of any backlash his activism might trigger.
“I’m not afraid of losing my job, and financial independence gives me the wherewithal to speak,” he said.
