Pro-Israel billionaires have been leading the way in holding universities and students at universities accountable for antisemitism in response to the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians.
The most notable name has been Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on October 10 that Harvard University should release the names of the members of the more than 30 student groups who signed onto a letter blaming Israel for the Hamas massacre.
“I have been asked by a number of CEOs if @harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members,” Ackman wrote on X. “If, in fact, their members support the letter they have released, the names of the signatories should be made public so their views are publicly known. One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists, who, we now learn, have beheaded babies, among other inconceivably despicable acts.”
The New York Post noted that at least a dozen CEOs have supported Ackman’s stance. One such notable CEO is Ken Griffin, CEO of the Citadel hedge fund and a Harvard alum and donor, who has pledged to never hire any of the students who signed onto the Harvard letter.
Ackman’s stance has not been without controversy. The Harvard Crimson reported that the national backlash to the letter resulted in “concerns over doxxing and student safety” and that the names of the student organizations that signed onto the letter have since been taken down for safety reasons. Harvard President Emeritus Lawrence Summers, who has blasted the university over its response to the letter and the Israel-Hamas war, posted on X on October 11: “I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus @Harvard student groups. But please everybody take a deep breath. Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out. In some case those approving did not understand exactly what they were approving. Probably some were naive and foolish. This is not a time where it is constructive to vilify individuals and I am sorry that is happening.”
Summers further accused Ackman of McCarthyism, telling Bloomberg News: “This letter was issued six hours after the attacks,” Summers told Bloomberg News. “Many in the groups had no idea that there was going to be a letter … Some I’m sure were naive and stupid. Now is not the time for demonizing students.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay said in a video statement on Thursday that the university is committed to freedom of speech and as such, “we do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views, but that is a far cry from endorsing them.” She did not specifically mention the letter, per The New York Post.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy argued on X that while the students who signed onto the letter are “foolish,” it’s counterproductive “for companies to blacklist kids for being members of student groups that make dumb political statements on campus.” “Colleges are spaces for students to experiment with ideas & sometimes kids join clubs that endorse boneheadedly wrong ideas,” Ramaswamy added. “I’ve been as vocal as anyone in criticizing left-wing cancel culture … but it’s bad no matter who practices it.”
Ramaswamy’s post received a scathing rebuttal from journalist and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who posted on X: “You’ve got to be kidding me. They sided with terrorists who murdered children and old women. You’re not clear on this as someone who wants to be president?” When Ramaswamy replied that “persuasion is better then forced,” Kelly replied: “If they are not ‘persuaded’ that murdering babies is wrong, there is no ‘persuading’ them. We don’t hire those who do the killing & we don’t hire those who applaud the killers while the savagery is underway. If you are open to hiring one of these lunatics, tho, good to know!”
Eagle’s View Capital Management Neal Berger told The New York Times that he had mixed feelings about Ackman’s position, arguing that it’s worth asking if “the people signing these petitions are 18 years old and very impressionable and don’t know what they are talking about.”
Ackman, for his part, is doubling down on his position. He told the Times that the college students in question should be held accountable because they “would have been considered adults one hundred years ago.” He also reposted former Israeli Ambassador David Friedman saying in response to Ramaswamy: “Nope Vivek. If you can’t unequivocally condemn murderers, rapists and baby killers, you lack the judgment, wisdom and compassion essential to be a good employee of a serious business.”
It is worth noting that at least five of the student groups who have signed onto the letter have since retracted their signatures and a board member of one of the groups that signed onto the letter resigned from her position over it, according to the Crimson.
Billionaires have also used other means to hold universities accountable. Griffin, who has donated $500 million to his alma mater and has a graduate school at Harvard named after him, urged the university to issue a stronger statement defending Israel; the university released a second statement on the Israel-Hamas war on October 10 that condemned the Hamas attack and said that the student groups’ letter does not reflect the views of the university, the Times reported. Harvard’s initial statement had said that they are “heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend” and expressed hope that “we can take steps that will draw on our common humanity and shared values in order to modulate rather than amplify the deep-seated divisions and animosities so distressingly evident in the wider world.”
The Times report also noted that Griffin does not appear to be the only donor to a major university urging the schools to take a stronger stance against students making anti-Israel statements in response to the Hamas massacre. “The most intense demands have come behind the scenes from Wall Street financiers who make up a powerful block of donors to schools including the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Stanford University and Cornell University,” the report stated. “In conversations with The New York Times, more than a dozen donors said they felt they had a right and an obligation to weigh in. Some of the donors who discussed the matter asked not to be named, because they did not want to speak publicly on a rapidly evolving issue that has elicited death threats on both sides. Some, but not all, of these donors are Jewish, though they hold a range of religious beliefs and not all have a history of being active in pro-Israeli causes.”
Other donors have cut ties with universities altogether. The Wexner Foundation, a Jewish philanthropy organization founded by Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner, announced in a statement on Monday that they would be severing ties with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS). “We are stunned and sickened at the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists last Saturday, the Sabbath and a festival day,” the Foundation’s statement read. “Since then many of our Israel Fellows no longer feel marginalized at HKS. They feel abandoned.”
The Foundation accused the university leadership of “tiptoeing” and “equivocating” on the matter and added that they couldn’t believe the university didn’t immediately disavow the student groups’ letter blaming Israel for the Hamas terror attack. “That should not have been hard,” the Foundation added. “In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and The Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners.”
Similarly, Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife Batia announced on Friday that they are stepping down from Harvard Kennedy School’s executive board, telling CNN: “Unfortunately, our faith in the University’s leadership has been broken and we cannot in good faith continue to support Harvard and its committees.” They added that their decision was based on a “lack of clear evidence of support from the University’s leadership for the people of Israel following the tragic events of the past week, coupled with their apparent unwillingness to recognize Hamas for what it is, a terrorist organization.”
Asked by CNN to comment on the Ofers, a spokesperson for Harvard pointed the outlet to Gay’s Thursday video statement where she said in part: “People have asked me where we stand. So, let me be clear. Our University rejects terrorism — that includes the barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Our University rejects hate — hate of Jews, hate of Muslims, hate of any group of people based on their faith, their national origin, or any aspect of their identify.”
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) lost a major donor in Jon Huntsman, Jr, the former ambassador, Utah governor, university trustee and Republican presidential candidate. The Daily Pennsylvanian (DP) reported on Sunday that they obtained an email from Huntsman to University President Elizabeth Magill on Friday evening stating that The Huntsman Foundation will no longer be providing donations to the university. “The University’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low,” Huntsman wrote. “Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate.”
Similarly, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan called for all UPenn donors to “close their checkbooks” to the university until Magill and Chairman Scott Bok step down. Rowan specifically criticized Magill for “university’s imprimatur to be associated” with the controversial Palestine Writes Literature Festival. “At a gathering supposedly focused on Palestinian arts, culture and poetry, the presenters focused on Jews, Israel and Zionism,” Rowan wrote in an eJewishPhilanthropy op-ed. “One speaker advocated ethnic cleansing and gathering all of Israel’s Jews into ‘cantons’; another defended the necessity and propriety of substantial violence; and numerous speakers repeated various blood libels against Jews, whom they referred to as ‘European settlers’ despite their 3,000-year presence in Israel. It was a tragically prescient preview of the horrific events that took place just two weeks later.” He argued that Magill’s “failure to condemn this hate-filled call for ethnic cleansing normalized and legitimized violence that ranged from the targeting of Jewish students and spaces here to the horrific attacks in Israel. Why is UPenn repeating tragic mistakes of the past? Words of hate and violence must be met with clear, reasoned condemnation, rooted in morality from those in positions of authority.”
Bok replied to Rowan with an op-ed in The DP defending the university’s response to the festival by noting that Magill had denounced antisemitism in all its forms and that the university will be reviewing its policies on how it handles outside groups hosting events on campus. “Rowan’s attempt to draw a connection between the PWLF with the heinous terrorist attack on Israel is shameful,” Bok wrote. “While Rowan actively works to divide our community, hundreds of Penn community members gathered for a peaceful vigil on College Green to acknowledge the innocent lives that have been lost and to comfort one another. Magill and other University leaders were in attendance.”
Other UPenn donors have also renounced their donations to the university for similar reasons, including David Magerman, Cliff Asness, Jonathon Jacobson. World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has also threatened to pull his funding from UPenn.
Magill said in a statement on Tuesday, “Alumni are important members of the Penn community. I hear their anger, pain, and frustration and am taking action to make clear that I stand, and Penn stands, emphatically against the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel and against antisemitism. As a University, we support and encourage the free exchange of ideas, along with a commitment to the safety and security of our community and the values we share and work to advance. Penn has a moral responsibility to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate in all its forms. I’ve said we should have communicated faster and more broadly about where we stand, but let there be no doubt that we are steadfast in our beliefs.”
Magill had previously issued a statement on Sunday addressing the Hamas terror attack that said in part: “I want to leave no doubt about where I stand. I, and this University, are horrified by and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians. There is no justification — none — for these heinous attacks, which have consumed the region and are inciting violence in other parts of the world.” The DP noted that Magill had previously issued a statement on October 10 saying that the university was “devastated by [Hamas’] horrific assault on Israel.” Magill also conceded that the university “should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community” regarding the controversial Palestine Writes Literature Festival, emphasizing that the university does not endorse the views of the speakers at that festival. She acknowledged that the timing of the festival was particularly painful for Jewish community given that it was during Yom Kippur. The festival responded by calling Magill’s statement “dishonest” and vowed to continue to refer to Zionists as “white supremacists colonizers.” “We are not afraid, nor are we intimidated by craven statements of individuals who genuflect before powerful billionaire donors to attack the weak and marginalized,” they wrote on X.
The Board of Trustees still backs Magill amidst backlash from donors. “While there is room for constructive criticism about how quickly and clearly the University has communicated during these volatile and troubling times, I feel that Liz Magill expressed what so many of us believe when she stated, ‘We have a moral responsibility—as an academic institution and a campus community—to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate. I look forward to continuing to work with leaders, faculty, students, and staff at Penn and elsewhere to ensure we are fostering a safe and inclusive environment for everyone,’” Michael Barrett, president of Penn Alumni and university trustee, said in a statement. “I would also like to say a word more about President Liz Magill. As a Trustee, I have witnessed firsthand Liz’s steadiness and focus, even in the face of the most personal type of attacks these past weeks, and she has been, in a word, inspiring. The Board of Trustees unanimously shares this sentiment, and we reaffirmed our confidence in the President when we gathered for an update this past weekend.”
UPenn’s Faculty Senate Tri-Chairs issued a statement on Thursday appearing to lash out at the donors who have spoken out against the university. “We write to affirm our commitment to freedom of thought, inquiry, and speech as foundational values of our University,” they said. “These values are being threatened by individuals outside of the University who are surveilling both faculty and students in an effort to intimidate them and inhibit their academic freedom. Let us be clear: academic freedom is an essential component of a world-class university and is not a commodity that can be bought or sold by those who seek to use their pocketbooks to shape our mission. We stand in solidarity with all University of Pennsylvania faculty, staff, and students whose research, work, or study has been affected by the recent efforts of intimidation.” They concluded with a demand that the university “remain free from internal or external pressure or coercion.”
