Barbara Reich

Eliminating clutter is a way of life for professional organizer Barbara Reich. Tackle organization with a 360-degree approach.

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@BillAckman He would have been so proud of you!

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@BillAckman @NeriOxman @NeriOxman "omitted quotation marks, but properly credited the original source's author(s) with references at the end of each of the subject paragraphs, AND in the detailed bibliography end pages of the dissertation."

 This is NOT plagiarism

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

You know that you struck a chord when they go after your wife, in this case my love and partner in life, @NeriOxman.

I am one of the most fortunate people in the universe in large part because of Neri.

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.

Neri, a former tenured professor at @MIT, is the author of 74 peer-reviewed papers, eight peer-reviewed book chapters, and numerous other journal papers and proceedings.

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:

https://t.co/5iH7PbeEvy

[Neri Oxman @NeriOxman]

I was forwarded an email this morning from a reporter at Business Insider who noted that there are four paragraphs in my 330-page PhD dissertation: “Material-based Design Computation,” which I completed at @MIT in 2010,

https://t.co/E96DHWBX3Y

where I omitted quotation marks for certain work that I used.  For each of the four paragraphs in question, I properly credited the original source's author(s) with references at the end of each of the subject paragraphs, and in the detailed bibliography end pages of the dissertation. 

In these four paragraphs, however, I did not place the subject language in quotation marks, which would be the proper approach for crediting the work. I regret and apologize for these errors.

Business Insider also identified one sentence in the dissertation where I paraphrased Claus Mattheck and did not cite him:

“The range of loads to which a tree is exposed is vast and it includes forces of various magnitudes and directions, bending moments, torsional moments, and thermal stresses amongst others. If the tree is to resist the loads exerted upon it, these loads must be countered by a support applying equally large, but opposed, reaction loads against it.” (Oxman, p. 49)

Compare with Mattheck:

“The multiplicity of external loads to which a tree component can be exposed can be divided into forces, bending moments, torsional moments and thermal stresses. If the component is not to be moved, these loads must be countered by a support exerting equally large but opposed reaction loads.”

I should have provided a citation to Mattheck for the above sentence.  I paraphrased from his book, “Design in nature: learning from trees, Springer 1998,” which I cited throughout my thesis, and properly attributed in the sections which follow the subject sentence.  I deeply apologize to Mattheck for inadvertently not citing him when I paraphrased the above sentence.

I am grateful for Mattheck’s contribution to the field as I noted in the dissertation in a section entitled “Background and Reference” on page 114:

“Similar advancements in optimization have been developed in the field of Biomimetics as engineers reveal Nature’s unique capacities for the design and optimization of its products. Within this scope, significant work has been carried out by Prof. Claus Mattheck, director of the Research Center at Karlsruhe. Mattheck embarked on the mission of simulating knot healing processes in trees. Knots are usually attributed to dormant buds or cut side branches and are generally considered as imperfections in the wood which greatly affect its mechanical properties. Taking an in inspiration from Nature, Mattheck’s aim was to develop processes to mimic growth and refinement and further implement them as computational routines in the field of shape optimization.”

For one of the four paragraphs in question, Business Insider claims that I incorrectly attributed the cited paragraph to two papers by different authors: “Vincent, J. F. V., Structural biomaterials,” Macmillan, London, 1982 and Vogel, S., “Comparative biomechanics: life’s physical world,” Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 2003.

Business Insider claims the proper source for this paragraph is: "The mechanical properties of natural materials," by Michael Farries Ashby, L. J. Gibson, U Wegst and R Olive, published in 1995 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.

Ashby et al also cite Vincent and Vogel in their introductory paragraph just prior to the paragraph in question, as well as in their bibliography.  I believe, therefore, that Ashby may also be using Vincent and Vogel in the paragraph in question, but clearly, since one of the sources I cite is from Vogel 2003, there is a problem with the citation.

Unfortunately, because some of the original sources are not online, and Business Insider was unwilling to give me beyond 4pm 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.

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.

I have continued my work in a new company I founded in New York City called OXMAN, which along with 27 other members of my team, we are working to advance innovation in product, architectural, and urban design. 

OXMAN has been in stealth mode.  I look forward to sharing more about OXMAN later this year.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

One of the most insane video from the US since the war started…

Presidents of the University of Pennsylvania @Penn & @Harvard smilingly say that calling for genocide of Jews isn’t necessarily against their code against harassment & bullying on campus

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@BillAckman @Harvard @MIT @Penn I'm so disgusted and disappointed by UPenn, a school I loved

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s congressional hearing on antisemitism:

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?

The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth.

Representative @EliseStefanik was so shocked with the answers that she asked each of them the same question over and over again, and they gave the same answers over and over again.

In short, they said:

It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews.

This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide, which to remind us all is:

“the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”

The presidents’ answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership.

Don’t take my word for it.

You must watch the following three minutes. By the end, you will be where I am.

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.

Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world?

Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context.

To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest.

On the bright side, our congressional leaders deserve accolades for showing tremendous leadership and moral clarity in their statements, by the questions they asked, and the respectfulness with which they conducted the hearing.

It was a masterclass of how our government and democracy should operate.

If you have time, please watch the entire hearing. Throughout the hearing, the three behaved like hostile witnesses, exhibiting a profound disdain for the Congress with their smiles and smirks, and their outright refusal to answer basic questions with a yes or no answer.

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@SpencerGuard Thank you for sharing and documenting. We must all bear witness to these atrocities and continue to demand accountability.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

December 3, 2023

Dear President Gay,
Since my letter to you of November 4th to which you did not reply or even acknowledge, I have received substantial feedback and input from senior members of the Harvard faculty about a number of the issues I raised in my letter concerning free speech, antisemitism, and the impact of the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (OEDIB) at Harvard. I thought to share this feedback with you now as it may inform your testimony and potential questions you may receive from the Congress on Tuesday.

Free Speech at Harvard

In several of your communications since October 7th, you have emphasized Harvard’s commitment to free speech as the reason why the university has continued to permit eliminationist and threatening language on campus – i.e., calls for Intifada (suicide bombings, knifings, etc. of Israeli civilians) and the elimination of the state of Israel “From the River to the Sea.” You explained your tolerance for these protests on October 13th: “[O]ur university embraces a commitment to free expression. That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous.”

In my letter to you, however, I noted that In The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) Free Speech Rankings, Harvard has consistently finished in the bottom quartile in each of the past four years. I note that Harvard’s ranking has deteriorated each year, receiving its lowest free speech ranking ever for the 2023 academic year, last out of 254 universities with a rating of 0.00, the only university with an “abysmal” speech climate.

After sending my letter, I reached out to the faculty to reconcile your free speech absolutist commitment with Harvard having the lowest free speech ranking of any university. The faculty had a lot to say on this issue, as well as on antisemitism and the OEDIB. Notably, they were willing to share their views so long as I committed to keep their identities confidential. I have quoted their remarks below:

On Free Speech

“Years ago, Harvard stopped being a place where all perspectives were welcome.”

“Harvard is a place where loud, hate-filled protests appear to be encouraged, but where faculty and students can’t share points of view that are inconsistent with the accepted narrative on campus.”

“Harvard became a place where if you toed the party line, there was applause. If you disagree, you are drowned out. The gatekeepers of speech continue to further narrow what they deem acceptable speech.”

“The primary problem with speech at Harvard is that if you say the wrong thing, you will be cancelled, which leads to self-censorship. The result is what you actually think is not what you say.”

“Saying anything that doesn’t highlight the importance of slavery and colonialism as animating forces of history is not acceptable speech. Lived experience and ideology become the dominant forces of conversation. All of the courses follow the same playbook ideology. Ideology poses as coursework.”

On Antisemitism, Support for Hamas, and the Protests Against Israel

When I asked members of the faculty about the causes behind the Israeli/Gaza protests and the tolerance for antisemitism on campus, they explained:

“Whiteness at Harvard is deemed fundamentally oppressive. Indigenous peoples are presented as in need of justice and reparations. Jews are presented as white people. It is therefore ok to hate Israel and Jews as they are deemed to be oppressors.”

I asked: “Why are the protests only about Israel versus other conflicts in the Middle East and around the globe where Palestinians and other civilians were killed?”

“Israel is the rare case where we have a hot conflict between people that are deemed ‘white’ versus people of color.”

The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (ODEIB)

“The primary animating force of the ODEIB is racism-colonialism and the denial of indigenous rights. The ODEIB is a home for people who are perceived to have been victimized.”

“The ODEIB was meant to include Asians, but it does not. It is focused on communities that experienced colonialism.”

“Recency matters. India is not included because they got autonomy 70 years ago.”

“The ODEIB is at the service of black students, to a lesser extent brown students, and to a lesser extent LGBTQ students.”

“It’s about whiteness versus people of color.”

“The DEI framework prioritizes people on the oppressed side of the narrative.”

Hiring Practices at Harvard

One topic which emerged when I spoke to the faculty was the issue of hiring at Harvard, an issue about which the faculty clearly has a lot of consternation.

When I asked why Harvard’s faculty has shifted sharply leftward in recent years, they explained:

“Each department decides whom they want, and the university can accept or reject the candidate. Left-leaning faculty appoint other left-wing faculty because they get to decide whom to hire and promote. It’s a bit like the Twitter algorithm which continues to feed you the points of view you want to hear. Eventually, each department reaches the tipping point.”

One senior member of the faculty shared that it is made abundantly clear that they cannot hire new faculty members unless they meet ODEIB requirements. That is, the candidate has to be a woman, person of color, or have LGBTQ+ status. Straight white males are “off the table.” Asians and those of South Asian (i.e., India) heritage are similarly disadvantaged in the process as they are deemed successful, overachieving minorities.

A number of the faculty bemoaned that in many cases they cannot hire the substantially more qualified person if he is a white or Asian straight male as the proposed candidate “has to be a woman or BIPOC person.” I was told that behind closed doors, it is common to hear: “I clearly don’t think this is the strongest candidate, but we can see where the train is headed. I therefore have no choice but to vote for the [lesser-qualified candidate.]”

It is made clear to the faculty that Harvard’s discriminatory approach to hiring should never be acknowledged or written about in an email. One professor said that he has been continually amazed that no one has brought a lawsuit as these practices are clearly illegal.

One faculty member explained that it is not just the administration that has been putting forth these requirements, but that external organizations like The Chronicle of Higher Education (TCHE) do “investigative reporting” where they do racial and gender audits of university departments. TCHE publicly scolds university departments that don’t meet their diversity requirements further reinforcing Harvard’s requirement for ODEIB-preferred candidates.

On all of the above issues, I know you will not rely on my survey of the faculty. I therefore encourage you to commission a highly credible, third-party firm to do an anonymous survey of the Harvard faculty. I am confident it will confirm and reinforce all that I have outlined above.

Discrimination at Harvard Is Not Limited to Antisemitism

The problems at Harvard are clearly not just about Jews and Israel. It is abundantly clear that straight white males are discriminated against in recruitment and advancement at Harvard. That is also apparently true to a somewhat lesser extent for men who are Asians or of Indian origin. The ODEIB is an important culprit in this discrimination on campus as it sees the world in a framework of oppressors and the oppressed, where the oppressor class includes white males, Asians, Jews and other people perceived to be successful and powerful.

While Harvard claims that it is committed to free expression, in practice free expression appears to only happen “behind closed doors” or among faculty and students speaking anonymously.

Conservative voices are squelched and often outright cancelled on campus. Tyler J. VanderWeele and Carole K. Hooven are two recent examples.

In March of this year, Mr. VanderWeele, the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology, a practicing Catholic, was effectively excommunicated from Harvard (saved only by his tenure) when it was discovered he had signed an amicus brief in 2015 which affirmed his view that the definition of marriage was between a man and a woman, and when he surfaced his pro-life views. See: https://t.co/5DnXLAdfNq

Earlier this year, Ms. Hooven, an evolutionary biologist was cancelled and eventually forced to resign because she stated that one’s sex was biological and binary on Fox and Friends. See: https://t.co/0ipq167Qbm

I am saddened that the Harvard I love has lost its way. I am embarrassed for not having been aware and previously taken the time to investigate these issues until antisemitism exploded on campus. I should have paid more attention as it did not take a forensic analysis to surface and better understand these issues.

Discrimination at Harvard is not just illegal, but it is extremely damaging to our nation’s competitiveness, which is critically important in a world with growing geopolitical conflict and turmoil. Harvard should be an institution for our best and brightest, taught by our best and brightest who are in search of Veritas and excellence. Russia, China, and our other competitor nations are not selecting their scientific and educational leaders using Harvard’s diversity, equity and inclusion metrics.

President Gay, beginning with your testimony to Congress on Tuesday, you can begin to address the antisemitism that has exploded on campus during your presidency, the seeds for which began years before you became President. But as I hope you recognize, the issues at Harvard are much more expansive than antisemitism. Antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine for other discriminatory practices at Harvard.

As President you have both the opportunity and the responsibility for addressing these critically important issues. It won’t be easy for you as I have been told that your recent “pivot on antisemitism” is already making the radical left wing of the faculty highly skeptical of you.

When 34 Harvard student organizations came out in support of Hamas’ barbaric terrorism, it was a wake up call for me. I hope that having to face the Congress on Tuesday will be a wake-up call for you.

Sincerely,

William A. Ackman, A.B. 1988, MBA 1992

Cc: Ms. Penny Pritzker, Chairman,
and The Harvard Corporation Board

[Shai Davidai @ShaiDavidai]

IT'S TIME FOR ALL OF US TO RAISE OUR VOICES!

The School of Social Work at @Colubmia University CANNOT allow a "teach-in" that sees rape as a "counteroffensive" and calls murder and kidnap of children "revolutionary violence"!

PLEASE RETWEET THIS WITH YOUR OWN CALL TO @Columbia

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

A three year old whose parents were killed on October 7th is being held hostage by Hamas.

The toddler is an American citizen.

Where is the outcry?

Where is the solidarity?

Why are the biggest marches and protests in the US being held in support of Palestine rather than him?

[Hillel Fuld @HilzFuld]

This is unbelievable.

The IDF has stationed itself in a position to protect Gazans who are listening to the IDF’s request to move to southern Gaza temporarily so the IDF can eliminate Hamas in northern Gaza.

And the peoples of Gaza are listening and running from Hamas as the IDF protects them.

Talk about some historic photos.

HT @amit_segal

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@BillAckman Thank you for getting involved and taking a stand. Harvard's nonresponse to the videos I've seen of the Jewish law student being abused and the lack of repercussions are astounding.

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@StopAntisemites Love these guys!

[American Jewish Committee @AJCGlobal]

Watch every second of this response from the White House.

This is how every leader should talk.

Well said, NSC Coordinator Kirby. Well said.

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@IsraelWarRoom @BillAckman @cooperunion @cooperunion will you be expelling these students?

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@IsraelWarRoom @BillAckman @cooperunion Shame on you @cooperunion

[Barbara Reich @BarbaraReich]

@RitchieTorres This is unacceptable. Thank you for your steadfast support of Israel and the Jewish people

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

Jewish students from Cooper Union had to lock themselves in the library in order to escape an aggressive Anti-Israel mob.

In America, we all should have the freedom to be who we are and worship as we please, without fear of intimidation and harassment and violence.

Where there is fear, there can never be freedom.

Shame on Cooper Union for failing to protect the freedom of its Jewish students from a dangerous mob.

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

JUST IN: Israel has conducted their first successful strike with their new “Iron Sting” mortar bomb.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces, they were able to take out a Hamas rocket launcher.

The Iron Sting uses "laser and GPS guided mortar munition" to eliminate targets while "reducing the possibility of collateral damage and preventing injury to non-combatants."

“[The Iron Sting] also fulfills the IDF’s needs, adapting combat capabilities to contend with enemies hidden within civilian, urban environments, while meeting the legal and moral standards set by the State of Israel,” said former Defense Minister Benny Gantz in 2021.