Bill Ackman’s keynote on antisemitism at academic symposium rankles Jewish scholars
Some academics say the billionaire who helped oust Harvard’s president and has cheered Trump’s actions against universities has no place at a conference on antisemitism
Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has aligned himself with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on colleges and universities over protests against Israel that he believes are antisemitic. Photo by Getty Images
By Arno Rosenfeld May 16, 2025
Bill Ackman’s starring role at a symposium on higher education at the Center for Jewish History is upsetting some scholars affiliated with the institution, who say the program “serves only partisan purposes rather than the scholarly and educational mission of the CJH.”
The keynote spot for Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has campaigned against Harvard over its handling of antisemitism, especially rankled some of the more than 60 academics affiliated with the center and former staff who signed a petition calling for the event to be postponed and refined.
“He’s a finance person, what does he know about either antisemitism or American universities?” said Marsha Rozenblit, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Maryland and a member of the history center’s academic advisory board.
Ackman, a Harvard alum who posts prolifically on social media, last winter used his clout as a donor to push former school president Claudine Gay out of her post following disastrous Congressional testimony about campus antisemitism. He has aligned himself with conservative critics of higher education and has been generally supportive of the Trump administration.
Ilana Rosenbluth, communications director for CJH, said that Ackman was a longtime donor to the center and a former board chair who had participated in past programs about business and Jewish history.
“Bill is a prominent Harvard alum and has been one of the most vocal and visible critics of the rise of campus antisemitism,” Rosenbluth said in an email. “There are other Harvard affiliated speakers who will provide their own, quite different perspectives on the current situation in American higher education.”
The spat over the symposium underscores how charged the debate over campus antisemitism has become among Jewish leaders in recent months as the Trump administration has raised the stakes by pulling billions of dollars in federal funding from Harvard and Columbia. Ackman has praised the White House for pulling more than $2 billion in grants for Harvard, as well as the administration’s efforts to deport hundreds of foreign students it has accused of endangering Jews.
He also criticized Harvard’s appointment of Derek Penslar, a respected scholar of Israel and Zionism, to co-chair its antisemitism task force, rankling some of the professors who signed the petition opposing his role at the CJH symposium.
Mix of academics and pundits
Rosenbluth said the symposium, called “The end of an era? Jews and elite universities,” was conceived of by Martin Peretz, the former editor and publisher of the New Republic, known for his staunch support of Israel and a history of offensive comments about Arabs and Muslims.
The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five organizations: the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute and bills itself as the “most comprehensive archive of the modern Jewish experience outside Israel.”
The event, with tickets ranging from $18 to $54, features 17 speakers. Roughly half are affiliated with universities, though some — like Steven Pinker, the renowned Harvard psychology expert — have no academic background in Jewish life or history.
The balance consists of Rabbi David Wolpe, journalists, the director of Harvard Hillel and Ackman, who will participate in a keynote panel with Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust scholar and former President Joe Biden’s antisemitism envoy. Lipstadt recently surprised antisemitism experts with her praise for some of the Trump administration’s measures.
Also participating is Leon Wieseltier, the former longtime literary critic for the New Republic, whose career was briefly derailed after several female staffers said he had “sloppily kissed them on the mouth” and told them to wear tighter dresses to the office.
“Questions about Leon Wieseltier’s past have been publicly addressed, and he has continued to participate in public intellectual life,” Rosenbluth said.
The scholars who objected to the event are generally more progressive on Israel and in their understanding of antisemitism than the event’s speakers, but have insisted the petition stems from concerns about academic rigor.
“This was not just about balance. This was/is also about scholarship,” Marion Kaplan, a professor of Jewish history at New York University, wrote to a CJH board member earlier this month. She noted that all of the women invited to participate are academics, while those without academic credentials are all male.
The Jewish scholars participating in the event did not express concerns about its composition. “The idea that anyone who circulates a petition to cancel an event with which they disagree is disappointing to say the least,” said Jeffrey Herf, a history professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in Nazi Germany.
Susie Linfield, an NYU professor who has written about Zionism and the left, said she didn’t “really know (or understand) much about the controversy. It seems like a lot of noise.”
Those who signed the petition opposing the event, including nine current and former members of CJH’s academic advisory council, warned that it could cause irreparable damage to its reputation.
“Proceeding with this forum will make it impossible for the CJH to remain respected as a legitimate scholarly institution,” they wrote.
