Israeli-born celebrity professor Neri Oxman accused of plagiarism

The Israeli-born Neri Oxman, a tenured professor at MIT and somewhat of a celebrity in the academic world, has plagiarized content in her academic writing, Business Insider reported on Saturday.  

According to Business Insider, in Oxman's 2010 Ph.D. dissertation, there are four incidents of plagiarism in which Oxman utilized whole passages from academic works without proper attribution, such as quotation marks or omitting citations when using the actual language of the author. In addition, Business Insider found 15 passages that Oxman copied from Wikipedia.

Business Insider also disclosed two other instances of plagiarism in peer-reviewed papers following Oxman's reception of her Ph.D.

Oxman commented on these allegations on X:

She added that she has yet been unable to verify some of the allegations made by Business Insider since the sources in question are not online. However, she did mention she would review them when given the chance. 

Husband, Bill Ackman, supported Gay's resignation over plagiarism claims

Oxman is the wife of Bill Ackman, billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of Perishing Square Capital Management. Ackman has been empathic in his call for the resignation of university professors over their mishandling of campus antisemitism following the Israel-Hamas war. 

In the conflict that ensued, Ackman disclosed on X information concerning Harvard President Claudine Gay's use of plagiarism in her academic works. Following these allegations, Gay stepped down on Tuesday. 

In a response to Business Insider, Ackman later stated on X: "It is unfortunate that my actions to address problems in higher education have led to these attacks on my family."