The civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton hosted a protest outside the office of the Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman on Thursday after Ackman criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Harvard following the resignation of the former university president Claudine Gay.
“[Ackman] declared war on DEI. He declared war on affirmative action. He’s defining himself as a rightwinger in terms of dealing with racial equality,” Sharpton told the Guardian during the protest alongside his organization, National Action Network, outside Ackman’s office in New York City.
The group has vowed to protest outside the building every Thursday in light of Ackman’s comments with plans to “escalate”, Sharpton told the Guardian.
“This issue is not just about what they did to this president of Harvard University. It’s about the use [of her] as a scapegoat to fight DEI,” Sharpton said at Thursday’s action, adding that Gay was the first Black person to lead Harvard.
The protest comes after Ackman, who largely led a campaign to remove Gay as Harvard president, criticized DEI programs this week in a 4,000-word social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ackman criticized DEI programs as apart of a “racist and illegal movement”.
“DEI is inherently a racist and illegal movement in its implementation even if it purports to work on behalf of the so-called oppressed,” Ackman wrote, adding that such programs create a “an oppressor/oppressed framework” and stir up “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech and harassment” on campus.
Sharpton told the Guardian that he had not spoken with Gay directly, but emphasized that Thursday’s protest was about countering attacks on DEI.
“They [have] said that this will now be the first step in their fight against diversity, equity and inclusion,” Sharpton said. “Since they want to make it a fight, we’ve come to their office to let them know that we’re prepared to fight,” he added.
Sharpton was also joined by the New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, who is Jewish. Lander criticized Ackman’s remarks as antithetical to addressing antisemitism.
“What I know for certain is that the way we will defeat antisemitism is by joining together in struggle with leaders for diversity and inclusion,” Lander said.
Sharpton, Lander and a small crowd circled in front of Ackman’s office, while chanting and holding signs expressing support for DEI programs.
Protesters shouted: “When DEI is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
Demonstrators also held green, red and black signs reading: “This is good trouble,” referencing a quote from the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.
Other signs criticized Ackman directly. Yetunde Babajide, a Columbia University student from New York’s Upper West Side, brought a homemade sign written on the lid of a storage container, reading: “Ackman has stepped on the wrong one.”
“What I’ve seen in this country, in this case, scares the hell out of me, especially when it comes to DEI,” Babajide said.
“This is totally uncalled for. This is totally unacceptable and the people behind this must be exposed,” she added.
Smith Georges, a 67-year-old retired paralegal and community leader based on the Upper West Side, said he wanted to protest in support of Gay as a fellow Haitian American.
“The community, the extreme right, people like Ackman just plotted to bring her down,” Georges said.
“When they’re trying to attack us like this, we have to stand firm and continue to fight,” he added.
Ackman’s latest comments came after Gay stepped down from her position as Harvard’s president on Tuesday. Gay faced intense pressure over her response to alleged antisemitism at Harvard and accusations that she plagiarized during her academic career.
Criticisms of Gay intensified after 5 December, when she and other university presidents testified in front of Congress about their handlings of alleged on-campus antisemitism following the 7 October attack in Israel.
Conservatives, including those who have criticized DEI efforts, quickly called for Gay to be ousted as president. More than 70 US legislators also signed a letter calling for Gay’s removal.
In her resignation letter, Gay criticized the racist critiques she faced amid the campaign to remove her.
“[It] has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor – two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am – and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” Gay wrote.
