Last week, in an 18-minute presentation at the annual Grant’s Interest Rate Observer conference, Bill Ackman (Harvard ’88, HBS ’92) assailed his alma mater as a severely underperforming asset, worthy of one of his legendary activist investing campaigns, like Herbalife or JCPenney. In a slick, 49-page slide deck titled Veritas?—a play on Harvard’s motto—he illuminated his thesis on the university’s financial and cultural failures. “It’s an investment idea,” he told the crowd, “the oldest corporation in America, one of the leading educational institutions, 7,000 enrollment, 20,000 faculty and staff, a $51 billion endowment, invested largely in illiquid assets, about $6 billion of revenue, $5.9 billion of expenses, significant capex, and, interestingly, about $6.25 billion of debt.”