Amidst the repercussions resonating at Harvard University following Claudine Gay’s recent departure, Neri Oxman—life partner of Bill Ackman, who accused Claudine Gay of intellectual theft—now faces similar accusations regarding her doctoral dissertation. Business Insider brought these claims to light earlier today.
Oxman, holding a tenured position at MIT since 2017, successfully defended her PhD dissertation at the institution in 2010. Business Insider alleges that various segments within Oxman’s dissertation exhibit signs of plagiarism, incorporating verbatim excerpts from sources without appropriate citation marks.
Journalistic scrutiny contends that Oxman’s 2010 dissertation unlawfully incorporated content from 1998, originating from Israeli scholars Steve Winer and H. Daniel Wagner.
Furthermore, it is asserted that Oxman’s dissertation borrowed language from two distinct articles by NYU historian Peder Anker, published in 1995 and 2006. Another charge involves the alleged appropriation of text from a 1998 book authored by German physicist Claus Mattheck.
In the latter case, Business Insider reports that Oxman replicated a Mattheck paragraph without offering any acknowledgment or citation—a practice deemed as plagiarism according to MIT’s stipulations. Subsequently, Neri Oxman addressed these accusations via social media.
The irony becomes palpable when considering the stringent stance against plagiarism maintained by Oxman’s husband, Bill Ackman, a prominent hedge fund manager. Ackman has recently been vocal against analogous academic lapses, specifically targeting former Harvard University president Claudine Gay.
Following Claudine Gay’s congressional hearing on December 5, 2023, regarding anti-Semitism at Harvard, conservative media figures aligned with Ackman, a substantial Harvard benefactor, in demanding Gay’s resignation.
These calls gained momentum when right-leaning journalists, such as Chris Brunet, Aaron Sibarium, and Christopher Rufo, unearthed allegations that Claudine Gay had plagiarized sections of her 2010 PhD dissertation. Rufo and The Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium exploited these claims to generate animosity towards Harvard’s inaugural Black president.