Bill Ackman "declared war against all of us" over his efforts to fight Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, Rev. Al Sharpton said at his protest against the hedge fund billionaire on Thursday.
Sharpton and his organization, the National Action Network (NAN), picketed outside Ackman’s office in response to the resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay, which the MSNBC host saw as the "result of Bill Ackman’s relentless campaign against" her.
Speaking with the press at the protest, Sharpton explained that Ackman, a Harvard alum, is being targeted for his efforts to "kill DEI" by supporting her ouster.
"The proprietor of this business has said that the only way to solve the problem in Harvard and other places is to kill DEI, and he's asked for the entire board to resign. This issue is not just about what they did to this president of Harvard University who was the first Black and first Black woman. It’s about…they used her as a scapegoat to fight DEI," Sharpton said.
Behind him, protesters holding signs were chanting slogans like "Tell me what democracy looks like/This is what democracy looks like," "No Justice No Peace" and "DEI will never die."
Sharpton went on to defend DEI as a whole as a way to help historically discriminated minority groups.
"We would not have to have DEI if we didn’t have D-E-N-Y. We were denied. DEI worked to make up for the denial historically of Blacks, of women, of gays and Latinos and Asians. Since this man decided that he would stand up and say that taking out Dr. Gay is killing or taking out DEI, I want to come to his office and let him know that we will fight him. We said nothing when the fight was at Harvard. But now he’s declared war against all of us," he said.
CLAUDINE GAY IS GONE, BUT DIVERSITY IDEOLOGY STILL PLAGUES HARVARD
Sharpton added, "DEI is something we must have to equalize the playing field, and that’s why we’re here today. We fought and stood up with ADL and others against what happened on Oct. 7 in Israel. This is not about antisemitism, so why are you now making it about hatred by coming at DEI?"
Ackman's office declined to comment.
Ackman had previously criticized Gay over her comments at a congressional committee where she stated that it would depend on the "context" on whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard's code of conduct.
He also criticized her multiple plagiarism accusations and suggested that she was hired as Harvard president to fulfill DEI criteria.
"One can only speculate without knowing all of the facts, but it appears Gay’s leadership in the creation of Harvard’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and the penetration of the DEI ideology into the Corporation board room perhaps made Gay the favored candidate. The search was also done at a time when many other top universities had similar DEI-favored candidate searches underway for their presidents, reducing the number of potential candidates available in light of the increased competition for talent," Askman wrote in a lengthy X post Wednesday about the Harvard controversies since Oct. 7.
