At least 10 CEOs and other executives are backing a call not to hire Harvard University students who signed on to a letter blaming Israel for the deadly attacks by Hamas over the weekend.
The group of executives expressed their support after Bill Ackman, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, called on Harvard to release a list of the students who signed the anti-Israel letter.
“I have been asked by a number of CEOs if Harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members,” Ackman, an alumnus of Harvard, posted Tuesday on X.
“If, in fact, their members support the letter they have released, the names of the signatories should be made public so their views are publicly known,” Ackman said.
Jonathan Newman, CEO of salad chain Sweetgreen responded in a comment, saying, “I would like to know so I know never to hire these people.”
“Same,” David Duel, CEO of health care services firm EasyHealth posted.
On Saturday, Harvard’s student Palestine Solidarity Committee and 30 other student groups signed a statement that said Israel’s “apartheid regime is the only one to blame” for Hamas’ attacks.
The students faced swift backlash from faculty, students, and prominent politicians. Several groups quickly backtracked, and one Harvard Law student who sat on the board of a group that signed the letter resigned, calling the statement “egregious.”
In response, 17 student groups, about 500 faculty and staff, and more than 3,000 affiliates signed a statement calling the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s statement “completely wrong and deeply offensive.”
Business executives flooded the comments under Ackman’s post calling for a list of Harvard students who signed the anti-Israel letter.
Ale Resnik, the CEO of Belong, a rental housing startup, posted “Share the list, please. We’ll stay away.”
Tech investor and entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky posted, “Share the list please,” and told Insider he thought Ackman was “right.”
Michael McQuaid, blockchain firm Bloq’s head of decentralized finance operations, shared a longer comment, posting, “I completely agree, and have been wondering the same the last couple of days if/when the names of these students would come out. Our words/statements have repercussions.”
Michael Broukhim, CEO of FabFitFun commented, “We are in as well.”
Stephen Ready, CEO of marketing firm Inspired wrote, “This is a must,” along with the praying emoji.
Jake Wurzak, the CEO of hospitality group Dovehill Capital Management, posted, “I second this,” and Art Levy, head of strategy at payments platform Brex, posted an applause emoji.
Hu Montague, founder and vice president of construction company Diligent, told Ackman he was “right” on another X post in which Ackman said, “If you were managing a business, would you hire someone who blamed the despicable violent acts of a terrorist group on the victims? I don’t think so.”
The terrorist attacks by Hamas that began on Saturday killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 27 Americans.