Bill Ackman's wife Neri Oxman admits to plagiarising in her doctoral dissertation, days after Claudine Gay resigns

Billionaire Bill Ackman's wife, Neri Oxman, plagiarised passages of her 2010 doctoral dissertation at the MIT, according to a report by Business Insider.

Billionaire Bill Ackman's wife, Neri Oxman, plagiarised passages of her 2010 doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), according to a report by Business Insider. This comes after Ackman called for the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, citing allegations of plagiarism. In a tweet, he said, “Students are forced to withdraw for much less.”

Reacting to the reports that Claudine Gay will remain part of Harvard faculty even after her exit as university's president, Ackman said this sets a "very bad precedent for academic integrity at Harvard." (Reuters/AP)

According to the analysis by the publication, similar patterns of plagiarism were found in Oxman's 330-page PhD dissertation: “Material-based Design Computation". As per the report, she used direct quotes from sources without quotation marks in her dissertation. Oxman, who has been a tenured MIT professor since 2017, is accused of plagiarising texts from two separate articles by NYU historian Peder Anker published in 1995 and 2006. she also lifted text from 1998 book by Claus Mattheck, a German physicist.

Ackman's wife expresses regret, apologises after plagiarism allegations

Responding to the allegations, Oxman expressed regret and apologized for the errors made by her. She even said that she should have provided a citation to Mattheck.

"Unfortunately, because some of the original sources are not online, and Business Insider was unwilling to give me beyond 4 pm to review these citations, I cannot confirm whether Business Insider or the sources I referenced for this paragraph are correct. 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 wrote.

"As I have dedicated my career to advancing science and innovation, I have always recognized the profound importance of the contributions of my peers and those who came before me. I hope that my work is helpful to the generations to come. I am also incredibly grateful for the 15 years I spent at MIT beginning when I enrolled in the PhD program in 2005, obtained my PhD in 2010, and later joined the faculty that same year. I became a tenured member of the faculty in 2017 and then left MIT in 2020 after I got married, became a mother, and moved to New York City," she added.

Bill Ackman defends wife from plagiarism accusations

Claiming that allegations against Oxman were “targetted attacks”, Ackman said: "You know that you struck a chord when they go after your wife, in this case, my love and partner in life," he wrote on X, attaching Oxman's apology and explanation post on the issue.

“Please see her post below about today’s Business Insider piece about her dissertation. Part of what makes her human is that she makes mistakes, owns them, and apologizes when appropriate,” he wrote.

Ackman, who has taken a a hardline stance on plagiarism, praised his wife for her exceptional work that has been featured in 116 exhibitions around the world.

"She has been awarded 15 patents for various innovations, and her work has been featured in 116 exhibitions around the world including two recent retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art and SF MoMA. If you would like to learn more about Neri, I encourage you to watch her podcast with Lex Fridman," he wrote.

Reacting to the reports that Gay will remain part of Harvard faculty even after her exit as university's president, Ackman said this sets a "very bad precedent for academic integrity at Harvard." In a lengthy post on X, he slammed Harvard’s board for backing Gay and stressed that she should be fired completely due to “serious plagiarism issues.”