A fave PressingPauser of mine, well before he started calling me Kyrie Irving for not getting jabbed enough (and my ball handling skills prob), is a distinguished academic who has written extensively about the elite in the (dis)United States. He must be having a field day with the college Presidents’ Congressional testimony brouhaha, given the uber-elite law firm that prepped the Presidents before they testified; the Presidents themselves; and especially, the ultra-wealthy business titans like those on Wharton’s Advisory Board at the University of Pennsylvania. Money is leverage.
I look forward to his write up.
He hasn’t asked for my help yet, but the main take-away from Testimonygate is that Bill Ackman is a doofus who let his ego get the best of him.
Ackman, of course, is right that anti-semitism is wrong and that Jewish students should not be scapegoated for highly contentious U.S. foreign policies. They, like all Jewish citizens, should feel and be safe.
But, Ackman over clubbed big time. The New York Times explains:
“On Nov. 4, he (Ackman) wrote a four-page letter to Dr. Gay, outlining his concerns about antisemitism on campus and what he called double standards on campus for different racial and ethnic groups. He offered a detailed list of actions he wanted the university to take.”
The Times adds, “After sending that letter, he said he had minimal contact with Harvard.” What a shocker, Harvard didn’t want a wealthy alum to tell them exactly what to do. I’m sure Ackman wouldn’t mind if Harvard told him exactly how to run his business. How does someone so incapable of “reading the room” achieve Ackman’s level of business success?
Business success, of course, is relative. Ackman’s net worth is only a few billion. Dig this “paragraph to ponder” from the same story.
“He (Ackman) has given tens of millions of dollars over the years to Harvard, but does not rank among the top donors at a school that has landed numerous nine-figure donations. His largest gift dates to 2014, when he and his former wife announced a $25 million donation to expand the economics department and endow three professorships.”
Note to Bill. With a $50 billion endowment, you have to give a lot more than $25 million to get a four-page letter read.
The Times says Ackman is acting from deep-seated resentments towards his alma mater that have built up in recent years. On Twitter, Ackman wrote a four page letter of sorts saying the underlying premise of the NYT’s story was wrong, that he harbors no resentment towards Harvard. Then he details all the things that have gone wrong between the U and him. What’s a synonym for “resentment”, bitterness, animosity, enmity?
The Harvard Board, and large numbers of its faculty, have backed Claudine Gay, Harvard’s newish President. In large part, I suspect, because they think she has what it takes to successfully lead the institution going forward. But also, no doubt, to stick it to Ackman and his egomaniac billionaire ilk.
One of my favorite parts of Succession was when Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy would sit in the back of his driver’s car and lose himself in rap music in preparation for a big board meeting.
Ackman should channel Kendall Roy. With this Kendrick Lamar chorus.
Bitch, be humble (hol’ up, bitch)
Sit down (hol’ up, lil’, hol’ up, lil’ bitch)
Be humble (hol’ up, bitch)
Sit down (hol’ up, sit down, lil’, sit down, lil’ bitch)
Pressing Pause 