Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been a vocal critic of Harvard’s recently resigned President Claudine Gay over plagiarism allegations and her handling of anti-Semitism on campus. Now his wife, Neri Oxman, has been accused of similar plagiarism in her own MIT dissertation.
A Business Insider article published Thursday alleged that Oxman plagiarized parts of his 2010 doctoral dissertation at MIT, citing several excerpts, finding that the report lacked proper attribution . NBC News has not independently reviewed the academic sources cited in the report.
Oxman is an American Israeli designer who was a tenured professor at MIT before leaving the university and moving to New York.
The article highlighted issues similar to those found in Gay’s academic works, consisting mainly of technical passages that were missing quotation marks for proper citations.
While Ackman did not back down from his investigation of Gay – even saying he should not remain as a faculty member because of his “Serious Issues of Plagiarism” – He defended his wife on Thursday post on xSaying that “part of what makes her human is that she makes mistakes.”
Oxman plagiarism claim
Business Insider reported that Oxman “plagiarized several paragraphs of his 2010 doctoral dissertation” and found that “at least one passage was lifted directly from other authors without any citation.” The article presented examples from her dissertation alongside excerpts from authors she allegedly failed to cite accurately.
oxman apologized on many issues X Thursday, the report found. He stressed, “I have always recognized the profound importance of the contributions of my peers and those who came before me.”
The report noted “four paragraphs in my 330-page PhD dissertation: ‘Material-Based Design Calculations'” where “I left out quotation marks for some of the functions I used,” she wrote.
“For each of the four paragraphs in question, I have appropriately credited the author(s) of the original source with references at the end of each topic paragraph and in the last pages of the dissertation’s detailed bibliography,” he explained. “However, in these four paragraphs, I have not placed the subject language in quotation marks, which would be the proper approach to attributing the work. I regret these errors and apologize.”
Examples posted by Business Insider showed Oxman’s explanation to be true in three instances of alleged plagiarism. However, it also featured an instance in which she appeared to paraphrase an author without any original citation or citation and another excerpt in which she allegedly linked an excerpt from a Royal Society of London paper to two different sources .
Oxman explained that she was not able to fully investigate the report’s claims because all of her sources are not readily available online.
“Unfortunately, because some of the original sources are not online, and Business Insider was not willing to give me more time than 4 p.m. to review these quotes, I cannot confirm whether Business Insider or me for this paragraph Whether the sources referenced are correct or not,” he wrote in reference. An issue has been pointed out in the report.
She said, “When I get access to the original sources, I will check all of the above citations and request MIT to make the necessary corrections.”
Oxman said he spent 15 years at MIT, where he pursued a Ph.D. program in 2005, received his doctorate in 2010, and joined the faculty the same year. He left the institute in 2020 after getting married and moving to New York City.
Representatives for Ackman and Oxman told NBC News there would be no further comment beyond the couple’s statement.
Harvard and Ekman’s investigation of Gay
Ackman was very vocal in his criticism of Gay.
The prominent hedge fund manager spoke out online against Harvard over the Ivy League institution’s response to campus protests of the Israel-Hamas war and Gay’s congressional testimony regarding its handling of anti-Semitism on campus.
Pressure against Gay reached its peak when allegations of plagiarism emerged regarding his academic work.
The Harvard Corporation ordered an investigation that “revealed some instances of inadequate citation”, but found no violations of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.
The investigation required him to submit four corrections to articles he had published that were part of the review, as well as corrections to his PhD dissertation from 1997, The Harvard Crimson reported.
Gay ultimately stepped down on Tuesday, and Ackman showed no signs of softening his criticism.
But xHe criticized the board for supporting Gay, calling it “a serious and continuing reputational disaster for Harvard and the board.” He called for the resignation of board members who had supported Gay and for Gay to be removed from the faculty. Did not agree with Harvard’s decision to keep him in the form.
“If he does not have serious plagiarism issues there will be nothing wrong with him remaining on the faculty. Students are forced to withdraw at even lower prices. Rewarding him with a high-paid faculty position sets a very poor precedent for academic integrity at Harvard,” he said in a separate statement. do,
Ackman supported Oxman on Thursday after he was accused of similar plagiarism.
“You know when they go after your wife, in this case my love and life partner, you get mad at yourself,” he said. written on x, “Please see her post below today’s Business Insider article about her dissertation. Part of what makes her human is that she makes mistakes, admits them, and apologizes when appropriate.
