Universities' anti-Semitism leads to donor rebellion
University of Pennsylvania's megadonor revolt isn't showing signs of slowing down.
As the war with Israel intensifies in Gaza, UPenn's benefactors are slamming the school for its response and actions before and after Hamas' terrorist attacks in Israel.
The latest figure to pull funding from the Ivy League school is billionaire hedge fund manager Clifford Asness, who said he decided to withdraw funding in response to the Palestine Writes Literary Festival at Penn, which he described as an "antisemitic Burning Man festival."
"What has been going on at Penn is unacceptable," Asness said in an email to the school's president Liz Magill that was shared by American Council of Trustees and Alumni fellow Steve McGuire. "The problems began well before the recent horrors. I have long been dismayed at the drift away from true freedom of thought, expression, and speech at our best Universities, very much including my beloved alma mater Penn."
"Then, a few weeks ago, Penn's hosting an antisemitic Burning Man festival pushed matters further," he wrote. "I'm 100% for free speech but not asymmetrical free speech where some have it and some don't."
Asness follows a long string of Penn donors who have sharply criticized or pulled funding from the university since Hamas carried out its attacks in Israel and Israel responded by heavily bombarding the Gaza Strip.
The first to speak out was Apollo Global Management's Marc Rowan, who tore into school leaders for not taking a stronger stance on what he characterized as antisemitism. In a guest column for Penn's student newspaper, Rowan urged alumni to "close their checkbooks" until Magill and the chairman of the board of trustees, Scott Bok, resigned.
"Join me and many other who love UPenn by sending UPenn $1 in place of your normal, discretionary contribution so that no one misses the point," he wrote. Like Asness, Rowan's column also pointed to the Palestine Writes event as factoring into his decision to pull funding.
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I believe anti-Semitism is causing similar reactions at other universities. It is hard to comprehend why intelligent people would support Hamas and its obvious war crimes against Israeli non-combatants. Israel should have the right to strike back at the war criminals.
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