Celebrity professor Neri Oxman, billionaire investor's wife, accused of plagiarism
What's the story
Neri Oxman—American-Israeli designer, architect, and wife of billionaire investor Bill Ackman—plagiarized parts of her 2010 doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), per Business Insider. Ackman has been in the news lately since launching a social media campaign against Harvard University's former president, Claudine Gay. Interestingly, Gay resigned last week over similar plagiarism charges alongside criticism for not adequately addressing antisemitism on Harvard campuses. Oxman also held a tenured professorship at MIT but relocated to New York later.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Ackman has taken a hardline stance on plagiarism and has been a vocal critic of Gay. He waged a weeks-long online campaign against Gay, going so far as to say she shouldn't remain a Harvard faculty member due to her "serious plagiarism issues." However, Business Insider on Thursday reported on incorrect attribution of others' work in Oxman's dissertation. On Friday, Business Insider alleged she "stole sentences and whole paragraphs from Wikipedia, other scholars, and technical documents in her academic writing."
What Next?
'BI' reports and Oxman's apology
Business Insider compared passages from Oxman's dissertation with those from authors she allegedly failed to cite correctly. In response, on X, Oxman apologized for the "errors," stating she always recognized the profound importance of the contributions of her peers. She also admitted to omitting quotation marks in four paragraphs of her 330-page PhD dissertation, "Material-based Design Computation." Oxman, however, claimed she credited the original authors with references after subject paras and in the detailed bibliography end pages of her dissertation.
Details
Credited Royal Society of London passage to wrong sources
Business Insider also published examples of plagiarized paragraphs from Oxman's dissertation. These examples seemed to support the explanation she offered in three of the four instances of supposed plagiarism. However, the report also presented a case where Oxman seemed to paraphrase one author with no parenthetical citation or quotations. It also highlighted another instance where she wrongly credited a passage from a Royal Society of London paper to two different sources.
Twitter Post
Here's what Oxman posted on X
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/6LE1O4FiiL
— Neri Oxman (@NeriOxman) January 4, 2024
where I omitted quotation marks…
Insights
Oxman cites limited online access for source verification
In her post on X, Oxman said she couldn't verify Business Insider's claims as some sources were not available online. "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," she claimed. Oxman pledged to check all citations once she accessed the sources and ask MIT to make any necessary corrections.
Facts
Ackman defends wife amid plagiarism allegations
Despite criticizing Gay's "serious plagiarism issues," Ackman defended his wife Oxman in an X post. He wrote, "You know that you struck a chord when they go after your wife, in this case, my love and partner in life." "Part of what makes her human is that she makes mistakes, owns them, and apologizes when appropriate," Ackman added. Meanwhile, representatives Ackman and Oxman told NBC News there would be no further comments than the couple's statements on X.
Twitter Post
Ackman's X post amid Oxman controversy
Imagine that you were formerly a professor at a university, and you are an entrepreneur now.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 7, 2024
One day, a company that you have no affiliation with (other than its CEO is your husband) gets an email from a reporter from Business Insider which says that they have found five…
About
More about Oxman
Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1976, Oxman graduated in architectural and computational design. She received her PhD in design computation from MIT, where she coined the term "Material Ecology" to describe her research area. Oxman is the recipient of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2018 for interaction design. She joined MIT's Media Lab as a faculty and rose to prominence quickly. At MIT, Oxman founded the Mediated Matter Group, a collective aimed at blending art, architecture, and science.
Controversies
Oxman was once linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Although the main highlights of Oxman's career remained her strong innovations and academic excellence, there has also been some controversy along the way. In 2018, during her stellar time at MIT, the institution was hit by a scandal over funds provided by the late infamous American financer and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It later put her in a long media trial. The point of contention was whether Oxman—an allegation she vehemently refuted—was personally involved in securing those funds.