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Pfizer chief Albert Bourla took to X on Wednesday to condemn the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania for their congressional testimonies on antisemitism.
“I was ashamed to hear the recent testimony of 3 top university presidents. In my personal opinion, it was one of the most despicable moments in the history of US academia,” Bourla wrote in his post.
The three presidents attended a congressional hearing about on-campus semitism on Tuesday. During the hearing, all three were repeatedly asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their universities’ rules on bullying and harassment.
“It can be, depending on the context,” Harvard’s Claudine Gay told Stefanik.
The University of Pennsylvania and MIT presidents Liz Magill and Sally Kornbluth gave similar replies.
Bourla, who is of Jewish descent, was disappointed by the presidents’ refusal to condemn hate speech despite being “offered numerous opportunities.”
“The memories of my father’s parents, Abraham and Rachel Bourla, his brother David and his little sister Graciela, who all died in Auschwitz, came to mind,” Bourla wrote in his X post, which included a photograph of his late aunt Graciela.
“I was wondering if their deaths would have provided enough ‘context’ to these presidents to condemn the Nazis’ antisemitic propaganda,” Bourla continued.
Bourla isn’t the only business executive who has weighed in on the three presidents’ statements at Tuesday’s congressional hearing.
Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who retweeted Bourla’s post, had earlier called for their resignations.
“They must all resign in disgrace. If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour,” Ackman wrote in an X post on Tuesday.
The Harvard alumnus had previously offered his services to Gay, saying in an open letter on November 4 that he could help tackle on-campus antisemitism.
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