From Investing.com:

Harvard University denies allegations of misconduct on campus after two independently-backed candidates fail to win a place on the ballot for the school’s board of overseers. Other candidates complained they were not informed by Harvard until late Friday that they did not meet the threshold for getting on the ballot. Bill Ackman, former alumnus and biggest critic of Harvard’s current management, failed to get his candidates elected.

Harvard denies allegations of misconduct in the wake of two independent campaigns for seats on the board of overseers. Harvard informed the other candidates on Friday that they did not meet the required threshold to get on the ballot. Candidates received between 2,300 and 2,700 votes. Sam Lessin, the candidate backed by Zuckerberg, received 2,901 votes. To get on the ballot, a candidate required 3,238 votes.

Slate of independent candidates backed by big names fail to get place on ballot for Harvard’s second-highest governing body. Some candidates claim they did not find out they didn’t meet the required threshold to get on the ballot until late on Friday.

Supporter of independent candidates speaks out, saying the contested Harvard balloting has “resonated”.

Harvard increases number of signatures needed to get on the ballot when not endorsed by the association from 200 to 1% in 2016.

Renew Harvard group plans to try again next year to become write-in candidates on the ballot. A number of other candidates including historian Todd Fine and attorney Silverglate also mounted campaigns.

The last successful challenges came in 2020 and 2021, when Harvard Forward, a coalition of graduates that urged the university’s endowment to divest from fossil fuels, got four candidates elected on the board of overseers. In 1989, dissident alumni backed a petition to elect Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the board in a push to get Harvard to divest its investment holdings in companies that did business in South Africa during the time of racial apartheid.



Read more: Harvard alumni backed by billionaires fail to make cut for board ballot By Reuters