From Fortune:

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman successfully pushed Harvard’s president, Claudia Gay, to step down over allegations of mishandling antisemitism on campus. Now, Ackman is taking on Harvard’s approach overall, attacking what he calls the “anti-meritocratic” ideology behind DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion. He accuses DEI supporters of censoring dissenting views, censoring, and calls the effort “on the path to socialism” that is “inherently inconsistent with basic American values.”

Conservatives have long decried DEI initiatives as racist toward white Americans, while liberals criticize them for perpetuating stereotypes and allowing companies a form of reputation laundering. They’ve faced opposition from the likes of former President Donald Trump, who banned diversity training in 2020, and have come under legal assault from the right, culminating in the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action last year. Despite the rise of DEI initiatives, racial gaps at companies persist, with Black people making up only 4% of leadership at large companies in the US.



Read more: Fresh off his victory over Harvard, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman criticizes DEI ‘ideology’ as ‘harmful,’ ‘anti-capitalist,’ and akin to ‘McCarthyism’