New York

Having publicly batted for Claudine Gay's removal as the Harvard president over accusations that she had committed plagiarism in academic work, billionaire Bill Ackman has changed his stance after similar allegations were levelled against his wife. 

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Ackman called his wife, Neri Oxman, a "human" after she admitted to instances of plagiarism in her doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

“You know that you struck a chord when they go after your wife, in this case my love and partner in life, @NeriOxman,”  Ackman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Part of what makes her human is that she makes mistakes, owns them, and apologises when appropriate," he added. 

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Notably, Ackman's wife lifted passages without proper citation for her 2010 dissertation. Some of the paragraphs were lifted straight from a 1998 paper by Israeli scholars and others from a 2006 article from the journal Nature. 

After being caught, Oxman released a lengthy statement, clarifying her position and apologising for lifting the work of other researchers. 

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"In these four paragraphs, however, I did not place the subject language in quotation marks, which would be the proper approach for crediting the work. I regret and apologise for these errors," she stated. 

"When I obtain access to the original sources, I will check all of the above citations and request that MIT make any necessary corrections," she added.

Watch | Hedge fund Billionaire Bill Ackman targets Harvard's Claudine Gay in controversial campaign

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Ackman goes after Gay

Ackman's statement came a day after it was revealed that Gay would no longer be the Harvard president. However, she remains part of the Ivy League's faculty while receiving a salary in excess of $900,000. 

Ackman had objected to this proposition as well, saying people had been forced to withdraw for much less. 

"There would be nothing wrong with her staying on the faculty if she didn’t have serious plagiarism issues. Students are forced to withdraw for much less. Rewarding her with a highly paid faculty position sets a very bad precedent for academic integrity at @Harvard."

Notably, Ackman first went after Gay when a video clip of Ivy League college presidents giving a testimony in front of the US lawmakers went viral. 

The three Ivy League university leaders, including Gay failed to condemn widespread antisemitism on their campuses during the testimony. After the clip went viral, Ackman demanded the resignations of all three.

Later, Ackman went after Gay when reports surfaced that the Harvard president had heavily plagiarised her academic work. 

(With inputs from agencies)