Neri Oxman, the wife of billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and a former MIT professor renowned in the fields of architecture and design, faces allegations of plagiarism. The accusations came to light after an investigation by Business Insider uncovered instances of alleged plagiarism in Oxman’s 2010 dissertation and research papers.
Business Insider’s investigation initially identified four passages in Oxman’s dissertation that appeared to be lifted from Wikipedia entries without proper attribution. However, as the probe deepened, at least 15 instances of plagiarism were unveiled, raising serious questions about the integrity of Oxman’s academic work.
Oxman has publicly apologised for the allegations and pledged to review primary sources, acknowledging the need for corrections.
This development follows similar accusations against Claudine Gay, which led to calls for her resignation as Harvard president. Bill Ackman had previously accused Gay of academic misconduct and played a role in the campaign for her resignation.
Ackman, who criticised diversity and inclusion efforts in the wake of Claudine Gay’s resignation, struck a different tone when addressing the plagiarism allegations against his wife. Expressing regret that his family became the target of public scrutiny, Ackman vowed to lead plagiarism reviews against all current MIT faculty, board and committee members, and its president Sally Kornbluth.
Ackman also announced his intention to spearhead plagiarism reviews against Business Insider and its reporters, criticising the outlet for its investigative reporting on Oxman.
Business Insider also found instances of plagiarism in research papers authored by Oxman, including a 2007 paper and a 2011 paper. The latter allegedly contained over 100 words lifted from a book without proper attribution, two sentences verbatim from another book, and material from a 2004 paper without citation.
Oxman, who left MIT and relocated to New York City in 2020, is under scrutiny for accepting a $125,000 gift from Jeffrey Epstein, a controversial financier. Oxman responded to Epstein’s donation by sending him an art gift.
Oxman’s recently launched venture, named Oxman, was still in its early stages when she publicly apologised in response to the investigative reporting by Business Insider.