Was the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay the Peter Principle played out, or something else?
Harvard has long been, and to some extent still is, one of America’s most prestigious private universities. However, recent events surrounding DEI (diversity, equity, and Inclusion) have been implicated in the school’s decline.
Bill Ackman, Harvard alum, donor, and CEO of Pershing Square Asset Management, recently wrote that Gay was only a symptom of the Ivy League’s fall from grace. Gay’s resignation was preceded by the University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. U. Penn is also an Ivy League school.
Magill and Gay came under fire when their campus populations exploded in an outcry of antisemitism following the Hamas attack on Jews in Gaza, Oct. 7. Both president’s unwillingness to condemn the antisemitism was instrumental in their departures.
After the protests, Ackman and other heavy donors cut funds to these prominent schools, with Ackman paying a visit to his old alma mater.
“I ultimately concluded that antisemitism was not the core of the problem,” Ackman wrote. “… I came to learn that the root cause of antisemitism at Harvard was an ideology that had been promulgated on campus, an oppressor/oppressed framework” – DEI.
Like others, Ackman thought diversity, equity, and inclusion was a good thing. It was only after speaking to professors and students that he concluded that DEI meant being victimized by meritocracy. In other words, one’s failures were the consequences of another’s success.
A philanthropist, Ackman knew his success was not based upon the failure of others. He knew firsthand that the best way to raise all boats was to add water, not sink the other boats.
“When one examines DEI and its ideological heritage, it does not take long to understand that the movement is inherently inconsistent with basic American values,” Ackman wrote. “Our country, since its founding, has been about creating and building a democracy with equality of opportunity for all.”
Harvard and other great schools still turn out excellent doctors, lawyers, engineers, and scientists. The danger lies when those professionals start earning their degrees through DEI.
To stop this trend, Ackman and others like him drafted a new constitution for the University of Penn that can stand as a policy of excellence for all institutions of higher education.
The second paragraph reads: “When Benjamin Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1749, his objective was to establish an institution dedicated to practical education and the advancement of society.”
The outlined tenets of the new Penn Constitution are below (pennforward.com).
- Intellectual diversity and openness of thought.
- Civil discourse.
- Political neutrality at the level of administration.
- Institutional neutrality is vital to foster a sense of inclusion among all … .
- The University must remain neutral to scientific investigation, … .
- Respect and Tolerance.
The role of selection committees is to identify individuals who will excel as researchers, educators, staff, and contributors to the intellectual vitality of the … university.
Across all levels of education, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, the university emphasized the cultivation of students' critical thinking skills and disciplined curiosity.
- … The ability to excel in the abovementioned qualities shall drive every admission decision.
- Faculty committed to academic excellence must have a supervisory role in the admission process … .
- Undergraduate, graduate, and professional curricula must provide students with the skills to be successful citizens in whatever role they choose to pursue.
- … train students to be critical thinkers, virtuous citizens, and ethical participants in free and open but civilized and respectful debate that produces, refines, and transmits knowledge.
More than 1,200 professionals across America have signed onto this constitution – including several from universities and colleges in California.