Bill Ackman says Trump is doing precisely the right thing as admin freezes billions of dollars for Harvard

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Tuesday said Harvard University, one of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest, should not be entitled to taxpayer funds when the school wastes money on what he calls “administrative bloat.”Ackman, who earned undergraduate and business degrees from Harvard more than three decades ago, was speaking hours after the Trump administration said it was freezing future grants to Harvard.He also criticized the school’s investment policies, saying the Ivy League university is facing a financial crisis and that its $53 billion endowment is “poorly invested.”“They have lost all future grants, their tax exemptions are at risk,” Ackman said on a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference where 5,000 financiers, educators and scientists gather to discuss critical issues of the day.“It is all self-induced gross mismanagement and I think that the (Trump) administration is doing precisely the right thing now,” Ackman told the packed room.The Education Department informed Harvard on Monday that it was freezing billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the university concedes to a number of demands from the Trump administration, a senior department official said.Harvard responded that the administration letter doubles down on demands that would impose “unprecedented and improper control” over the university and makes new threats to “illegally” withhold funding for lifesaving research.“The notion is the federal government money is only going to fund breakthrough research, that is just false,” Ackman said.A representative for the university was not immediately available for comment and a representative for Harvard Management Company, which invests the endowment, declined to comment.Ackman has long been at odds with Harvard, criticizing the university for not doing enough to protect students from antisemitism.Early last year he launched an unsuccessful bid to get four candidates on ...