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 Following a backlash to the statement, some of the student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.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. Larry Summers, the famed economist who on Monday drew attention to the "morally unconscionable" Harvard student statement, is now preaching caution. — CNN
