- Jason Furman criticized Bill Ackman’s call to name students who blamed Israel for Hamas’ attack.
- Furman said naming and outing students “is just wrong in any circumstance.”
- The Harvard Crimson said on Tuesday that some students had been doxed over the letter.
A Harvard economics professor has criticized calls from executives like Bill Ackman to publicly out students who blamed Israel for Hamas attacks.
Jason Furman, who was an Obama-era economic advisor, argued that those calling for students to be outed and shamed should bear in mind that “two wrongs do not make a right.”
Furman was weighing in on the fallout from the controversial joint statement from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups. This statement, issued by multiple Harvard student groups, held the “Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
“Publishing lists of students and personal information under the headings ‘terrorist,’ ‘genocidal murderer’ and ‘antisemite’ is just wrong in any circumstance, and especially when many of the people named have nothing to do with the statement,” Jason Furman wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.
“I admire @BillAckman, including for his efforts to exonerate the innocent,” Furman added in a subsequent X post on Wednesday. “We may not agree on the definition of guilt here or the appropriate sentence. But I would hope that he & others would at least take more care in condemning people that even he would consider innocent.”
On Tuesday, Ackman called on Harvard to release the names of students who had signed a pro-Hamas letter so that he and other CEOs wouldn’t “inadvertently hire” them.
Ackman later on Tuesday doubled down on his calls for the names to be released, saying that the students “shouldn’t hide behind a Harvard-branded corporation while doing so anonymously.”
At least five of the original 34 student groups who signed the letter have withdrawn their endorsements, per a Tuesday report by The Harvard Crimson.
The Harvard Crimson’s report added that some students had been doxed over the letter, with at least four websites publishing the personal information of members from the student organizations that were involved.
Ackman defended his calls to name the students on Wednesday, writing in an X post that “it is not harassment to seek to understand the character of the candidates that you are considering for employment.”
“If you have made a mistake, acknowledge it, and immediately correct your mistaken actions,” Ackman wrote. “Public statements made by organizations of which you are a member can have a material negative impact on your reputation.”
Representatives for Furman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
