CNN: Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted

[DKW 86 7,425]

Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/business/harvard-israel-hamas-ceos-students/index.html

CEOs are banning together to get all the members of all the Harvard Groups that signed the Pro-Hamas letter blaming Israel alone for the violence doxed so that they dont inadvertently hire one of these racist, bigoted, anti-semites that openly support the Israeli genocide. 

I am 100% for doxxing them all. Every member of every group that signed that letter. They are adults and they need to see that the world does not support Hamas Killings of unarmed women, children, babies and aged people.

 

New YorkCNN — 

Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman and several other business leaders are demanding Harvard University release the names of students whose organizations signed on to a letter blaming solely Israel for the deadly attacks by Hamas.

The CEOs want the students blacklisted. But some of those students have since distanced themselves from the letter.

“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

 

If the members support the letter, the names of the signatories “should be made public so their views are publicly known,” Ackman said. The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t “inadvertently hire” any students belonging to Harvard groups that signed the letter.

Following a backlash to the statement, some of the student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.

Multiple other business leaders, including the CEOs of shopping club FabFitFun, health tech startup EasyHealth and Dovehill Capital Management supported the call from Ackman to name the students.

“I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said on X.

Neither Neman nor Ackman responded to requests for comment.

Others warn that naming the students whose groups backed the statement could put the students in harms way and did not account for differences of opinion within the student groups.

'History will judge them.' ADL leader slams CEOs who are silent on antisemitism

Larry Summers, the famed economist who on Monday drew attention to the “morally unconscionable” Harvard student statement, is now preaching caution.

“I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus @Harvard student group,” Summers said in a Wednesday afternoon post on X. “But please everybody take a deep breath. Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out. In some cases those approving did not understand exactly what they were approving.”

Summers, the former president of Harvard and US Treasury Secretary, added that “probably some were naive and foolish.”

“This is not a time where it is constructive to vilify individuals and I am sorry that is happening,” Summers said.

Harvard professor and legal scholar Laurence Tribe told CNN Wednesday he initially agreed with Ackman but on reflection decided not to join the push to publicize their names.

“Any number of the students who got caught up in this misguided campaign probably didn’t even know there was a statement. Others no doubt didn’t focus on, much less understand, what they were signing,” Tribe said in an email. “Naive and stupid as they may have been, I now think it would be an overreaction to penalize them permanently by publishing their names and implying that they actually endorsed what the terrorists did to innocent Israelis.”

Similarly, Meds.com CEO Stephen Sullivan wrote that people should be “angry at the administration and teachers” but cautioned against putting college students’ names on a list, according to Forbes.

Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a statement Tuesday saying “no student group – not even 30 student groups – speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”

Harvard student groups’ statement

The controversy comes in response to a joint statement released by a coalition of Harvard student groups following the attacks by Hamas that have killed more than 1,000 Israelis and at least 14 American citizens.

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the statement from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups said.

The statement said millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been “forced to live in an open-air prison” and called on Harvard to “take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”

A footnote at the bottom of the statement said the names of the “original signing organizations have been concealed at this time.”

Jake Wurzak, the CEO of Dovehill Capital Management, said he believed the students who signed the letter should be named.

“Free Speech is paramount. Words have meaning and students shouldn’t be allowed to hide behind an institution,” Wurzak said on X.

Some students withdraw their signatures

According to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, at least five of the original 34 signatories have withdrawn their endorsements as of Tuesday night.

For example, the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association said on Instagram “we regret” that the decision to co-sign the statement has been “interpreted as a tacit support for the recent violent attacks in Israel.”

“To ensure that our stance on the condemnation of violence by Hamas and support for a just peace remains clear, we retract our signatures from the statement,” the Nepali student group said.

Act on a Dream, a student group supporting immigrants, told the Crimson the group signed the statement as a “result of miscommunication and a lack of due diligence in sharing the statement with the entirety of the board.”

Others responded to Ackman saying students weren’t aware of the letter’s content or that groups they belong to were signing the statement.

“No need for this level of harassment,” Mohini Tangri, a Harvard Law School student, said on X in response to Ackman. Tangri said many student members had “no say” in whether their organization signed the letter.

Another Harvard student, Danielle Mikaelian, said she resigned from the board of a group that signed the statement on Israel and didn’t have a chance to read it until it was too late.

“I am sorry for the pain this caused. My organization did not have a formal process and I didn’t even see the statement until we had signed on,” Mikaelian posted on X.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told CNN on Wednesday he doesn’t know about the wisdom of releasing the names of the students but called for them to take responsibility on their own.

“It is an outrageously offensive piece and anyone who signed it should either stand behind it and face the consequences in life or step up and apologize and explain themselves,” Greenblatt said. “This is what we learn to do in elementary school. It’s hard for me to understand why it’s complicated for people at Harvard University.”

 

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Real-life consequences for anti-Israel statement

Separately, there has been a backlash against a statement released by the president of the NYU Student Bar Association saying Israel “bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life.”

That statement had immediate consequences, with law firm Winston & Strawn promptly pulling a job offer to the NYU student who previously served as a summer associate at the firm.

“These comments are profoundly in conflict with Winston & Strawn’s values as a firm. Accordingly, the Firm has rescinded the law student’s offer of employment,” the law firm said in a post on X. “Winston stands in solidarity with Israel’s right to exist in peace and condemns Hamas and the violence and destruction it has ignited in the strongest terms possible.”

‘Morally unconscionable’

After criticism from Summers and others, Harvard President Claudine Gay said there should be “no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.”

“Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region,” Gay said.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, told CNN on Wednesday that Jews have many centuries of “being blamed as victims.”

“Villains cannot be celebrated as heroes,” Sonnenfeld said in an email. “Anyone who does so cannot hide as cowards behind the shields of association titles any more than Nazi stormtroopers were allowed anonymity. Our society is founded on personal accountability.”

The Anti-Defamation League, in response to a “surge of antisemitism around the world” following the attacks on Israel, called on CEOs on Wednesday to speak out against hate and sign a pledge to fight antisemitism.

The ADL said signatories include Accenture, Adidas and the NBA.

“For companies that have Jewish employees, Jewish customers, Jewish investors, Jewish shareholders, or simply have a modicum of a conscience, this one should be easy,” Greenblatt, the ADL CEO, told CNN.

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by DKW 86

[PUB78 1,358]

On 10/13/2023 at 11:51 PM, DKW 86 said:

Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/business/harvard-israel-hamas-ceos-students/index.html

CEOs are banning together to get all the members of all the Harvard Groups that signed the Pro-Hamas letter blaming Israel alone for the violence doxed so that they dont inadvertently hire one of these racist, bigoted, anti-semites that openly support the Israeli genocide. 

I am 100% for doxxing them all. Every member of every group that signed that letter. They are adults and they need to see that the world does not support Hamas Killings of unarmed women, children, babies and aged people.

 

New YorkCNN — 

Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman and several other business leaders are demanding Harvard University release the names of students whose organizations signed on to a letter blaming solely Israel for the deadly attacks by Hamas.

The CEOs want the students blacklisted. But some of those students have since distanced themselves from the letter.

“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

 

If the members support the letter, the names of the signatories “should be made public so their views are publicly known,” Ackman said. The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t “inadvertently hire” any students belonging to Harvard groups that signed the letter.

Following a backlash to the statement, some of the student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.

Multiple other business leaders, including the CEOs of shopping club FabFitFun, health tech startup EasyHealth and Dovehill Capital Management supported the call from Ackman to name the students.

“I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said on X.

Neither Neman nor Ackman responded to requests for comment.

Others warn that naming the students whose groups backed the statement could put the students in harms way and did not account for differences of opinion within the student groups.

'History will judge them.' ADL leader slams CEOs who are silent on antisemitism

Larry Summers, the famed economist who on Monday drew attention to the “morally unconscionable” Harvard student statement, is now preaching caution.

“I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus @Harvard student group,” Summers said in a Wednesday afternoon post on X. “But please everybody take a deep breath. Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out. In some cases those approving did not understand exactly what they were approving.”

Summers, the former president of Harvard and US Treasury Secretary, added that “probably some were naive and foolish.”

“This is not a time where it is constructive to vilify individuals and I am sorry that is happening,” Summers said.

Harvard professor and legal scholar Laurence Tribe told CNN Wednesday he initially agreed with Ackman but on reflection decided not to join the push to publicize their names.

“Any number of the students who got caught up in this misguided campaign probably didn’t even know there was a statement. Others no doubt didn’t focus on, much less understand, what they were signing,” Tribe said in an email. “Naive and stupid as they may have been, I now think it would be an overreaction to penalize them permanently by publishing their names and implying that they actually endorsed what the terrorists did to innocent Israelis.”

Similarly, Meds.com CEO Stephen Sullivan wrote that people should be “angry at the administration and teachers” but cautioned against putting college students’ names on a list, according to Forbes.

Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a statement Tuesday saying “no student group – not even 30 student groups – speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”

Harvard student groups’ statement

The controversy comes in response to a joint statement released by a coalition of Harvard student groups following the attacks by Hamas that have killed more than 1,000 Israelis and at least 14 American citizens.

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the statement from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups said.

The statement said millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been “forced to live in an open-air prison” and called on Harvard to “take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”

A footnote at the bottom of the statement said the names of the “original signing organizations have been concealed at this time.”

Jake Wurzak, the CEO of Dovehill Capital Management, said he believed the students who signed the letter should be named.

“Free Speech is paramount. Words have meaning and students shouldn’t be allowed to hide behind an institution,” Wurzak said on X.

Some students withdraw their signatures

According to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, at least five of the original 34 signatories have withdrawn their endorsements as of Tuesday night.

For example, the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association said on Instagram “we regret” that the decision to co-sign the statement has been “interpreted as a tacit support for the recent violent attacks in Israel.”

“To ensure that our stance on the condemnation of violence by Hamas and support for a just peace remains clear, we retract our signatures from the statement,” the Nepali student group said.

Act on a Dream, a student group supporting immigrants, told the Crimson the group signed the statement as a “result of miscommunication and a lack of due diligence in sharing the statement with the entirety of the board.”

Others responded to Ackman saying students weren’t aware of the letter’s content or that groups they belong to were signing the statement.

“No need for this level of harassment,” Mohini Tangri, a Harvard Law School student, said on X in response to Ackman. Tangri said many student members had “no say” in whether their organization signed the letter.

Another Harvard student, Danielle Mikaelian, said she resigned from the board of a group that signed the statement on Israel and didn’t have a chance to read it until it was too late.

“I am sorry for the pain this caused. My organization did not have a formal process and I didn’t even see the statement until we had signed on,” Mikaelian posted on X.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told CNN on Wednesday he doesn’t know about the wisdom of releasing the names of the students but called for them to take responsibility on their own.

“It is an outrageously offensive piece and anyone who signed it should either stand behind it and face the consequences in life or step up and apologize and explain themselves,” Greenblatt said. “This is what we learn to do in elementary school. It’s hard for me to understand why it’s complicated for people at Harvard University.”

 

Video Ad Feedback

Hear the world react to the Israeli Palestinian conflict

01:49 - Source: CNN

Real-life consequences for anti-Israel statement

Separately, there has been a backlash against a statement released by the president of the NYU Student Bar Association saying Israel “bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life.”

That statement had immediate consequences, with law firm Winston & Strawn promptly pulling a job offer to the NYU student who previously served as a summer associate at the firm.

“These comments are profoundly in conflict with Winston & Strawn’s values as a firm. Accordingly, the Firm has rescinded the law student’s offer of employment,” the law firm said in a post on X. “Winston stands in solidarity with Israel’s right to exist in peace and condemns Hamas and the violence and destruction it has ignited in the strongest terms possible.”

‘Morally unconscionable’

After criticism from Summers and others, Harvard President Claudine Gay said there should be “no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.”

“Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region,” Gay said.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, told CNN on Wednesday that Jews have many centuries of “being blamed as victims.”

“Villains cannot be celebrated as heroes,” Sonnenfeld said in an email. “Anyone who does so cannot hide as cowards behind the shields of association titles any more than Nazi stormtroopers were allowed anonymity. Our society is founded on personal accountability.”

The Anti-Defamation League, in response to a “surge of antisemitism around the world” following the attacks on Israel, called on CEOs on Wednesday to speak out against hate and sign a pledge to fight antisemitism.

The ADL said signatories include Accenture, Adidas and the NBA.

“For companies that have Jewish employees, Jewish customers, Jewish investors, Jewish shareholders, or simply have a modicum of a conscience, this one should be easy,” Greenblatt, the ADL CEO, told CNN.

 

Young, dumb and foolish. I bet many of them have wet their pants when they realized their actions may cost them dearly in their future careers.

[AUDub 11,149]

Summers’ measured take is the correct one. He reviled the statement upon its release but has reservations about the names for this reason. 
 

 

Ackman needs to dial the rhetoric back. It’s possible some names are in there through no fault of their own. 

Edited October 18, 2023 by AUDub

[AUDub 11,149]

3 hours ago, PUB78 said:

Young, dumb and foolish. I bet many of them have wet their pants when they realized their actions may cost them dearly in their future careers.

It speaks to how unprofessionally these orgs are run, and probably the lion’s share of the students, but not all of them. 

[TitanTiger 20,482]

I think the blowback they received is enough.  As has been said, not every student in these organizations personally signed on to the statement or were even aware this was in the works beforehand.  It was naive and foolish and I think a lesson learned.

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

Our upcoming AGs, SGs, and SCOTUS Justices! Man I feel great about the future!

[autigeremt 6,633]

On 10/17/2023 at 1:01 PM, NolaAuTiger said:

Our upcoming AGs, SGs, and SCOTUS Justices! Man I feel great about the future!

I’ll be dead. My oath runs out then. 

[homersapien 11,377]

I find this highly ironic considering the conservative attacks on colleges on freedom of speech issues.

"Free speech for me, but not for thee."

 

 

[DKW 86 7,425]

On 10/19/2023 at 10:44 AM, homersapien said:

I find this highly ironic considering the conservative attacks on colleges on freedom of speech issues.

"Free speech for me, but not for thee."

Hey now. Let's get this correct once and for all. No one is denying anyone here the Right of Free Speech. I will never ever deny anyone the right of Free Speech. But I am also letting them feel the CONSEQUENCES of Free, Racist,Bigoted, Anti-Semitic Speech. There is as much difference in this as day and nite. No one is telling tham they cannot speak nor taking away their abilities or closing their accounts. I just think they need to be held accountable for the outrageous things they said and believe. As a worker in a Top 50 Firm all of my working life, I think i deserve to not have to work with and endure these cretins spewing their racist, bigoted, Anti-Semitic bile in the cubicle or office next door. By definition they create unsafe and violent prone work environments.

As usual homey, you got this 100% wrong. NO ONE IS DENYING THEM FREE SPEECH AT ALL. Some of us want to be safe from these racist violent pigs being in the cubicle next to us. 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by DKW 86

[homersapien 11,377]

4 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Hey now. Let's get this correct once and for all. No one is denying anyone here the Right of Free Speech. I will never ever ceny anyone the right of Free Speech. But I am also letting them feel the CONSEQUENCES of Free, Racist,Bigoted, Anti-Semitic Speech. There is as much difference in this as day and nite. No one is telling tham they cannot speak nor taking away their abilities or closing their accounts. I just think they need to be held accountable the outrageous things they said and believe. As a worker in a Top 50 Firm all of my working life, I think i deserve to not have work with and endure these cretins spewing their racist, bigoted, Anti-Semitic bile. By definition they create unsafe and violnet prone work environments.

As usual homey, you got this 100% wrong. NO ONE IS DENYING THEM FREE SPEECH AT ALL. Some of us want to be safe from these racist violent pigs being in the cubicle us. 

 

Where did I say someone's speech is being denied, oh presumptuous one?

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,425]

19 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Where did I say someone's speech is being denied, oh assumption-driven one?

Quote

 

I find this highly ironic considering the conservative attacks on colleges on freedom of speech issues.

"Free speech for me, but not for thee."

 

 

[homersapien 11,377]

12 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

 

WRONG. It's not there.

I was referring to the emotional and intellectual outrage to college kids for shouting down right wing speakers on campus (for example). Now -from the same people - we see support for "doxing"and retribution (which you so aptly demonstrate yourself).

I find that ironic, if not hypocritical.

I never brought up infringement of speech, which - technically speaking - applies solely to the government.

So stop jumping to unsupported conclusions and pay closer attention to the actual prose.

Edited October 20, 2023 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,425]

There is no challenge to FREE Speech that you allege. Speech has consequences. All of the signers of the Declaration of Independence knew this. It is why John Hancock signed so large. He fully understood that with Free Speech comes consequences. All of the signers lost everything they had. Homes, wealth, lives. You, as usual, deny reality. When X, Twitter, and others gave in to the govt and removed or completely shut down accounts, that was clearly an attack on Free Speech. No one is denying the students Free Speech. But when they speak as fools then they should expect to be treated as fools. Speech has Consequences, always has in America. From 1776 on those consequences have been costly. In 21st Century woke America these immature kids don’t want any consequences. Sucks to be them. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by DKW 86

[homersapien 11,377]

2 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

There is no challenge to FREE Speech that you allege.

Again, I DID NOT allege that. You are "begging the question" and trying to turn my post into a straw man which it is not.

I explained this already, so stop your lying.

Edited October 20, 2023 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,425]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

Again, I DID NOT allege that. You are "begging the question" and trying to turn my post into a straw man which it is not.

I explained this already, so stop your lying.

Whatever. You get in this same argument 3-4 times a month with half the board. 

[icanthearyou 4,463]

5 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

Whatever. You get in this same argument 3-4 times a month with half the board. 

Oy vey.

[AU9377 4,934]

Everyone is free to speak as they wish, but their speech is not free from consequences.  I agree that you can't assume every member of these campus groups supported the statements.  They should publicly denounce the statements if they are among those students.

Employers have the right to refuse to hire candidates that harbor opinions that would make representing their clients difficult.  Another example.... many District Attorneys won't hire someone to work in their office that is opposed to the death penalty if they are in a state that uses the death penalty.  I see this in the same vein.

[homersapien 11,377]

2 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Whatever. You get in this same argument 3-4 times a month with half the board. 

Not my fault that "half the board" can't read for content or discern nuance.

[DKW 86 7,425]

12 hours ago, homersapien said:

Not my fault that "half the board" can't read for content or discern nuance.

[DKW 86 7,425]

13 hours ago, AU9377 said:

Everyone is free to speak as they wish, but their speech is not free from consequences.  I agree that you can't assume every member of these campus groups supported the statements.  They should publicly denounce the statements if they are among those students.

Employers have the right to refuse to hire candidates that harbor opinions that would make representing their clients difficult.  Another example.... many District Attorneys won't hire someone to work in their office that is opposed to the death penalty if they are in a state that uses the death penalty.  I see this in the same vein.

Thank you Sir. This is a reasonable take.