Mega-donors to top universities protest pro-Hamas student groups

Elite American colleges are turning a blind eye to antisemitic student groups endorsing Hamas – until donors call them out.

By Susan Tawil, World Israel News

In turning a blind eye to rallies and activities by campus groups supporting Hamas, Ivy League schools like Harvard and University of Pennsylvania are now taking heat from some of their major philanthropists.

Billionaire donors like hedge fund managers Kenneth Griffin, Bill Ackman, and Seth Klarman; former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein; and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. are putting pressure on their alma maters to speak out against the terrorist attacks on Israel.

This past week, the radical Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized anti-Israel protests on campuses across the country, with little reaction from college officials. Dozens of leftist student groups backed a statement blaming Israel as “entirely responsible” for the war—yet it met with silence from university higher-ups.

Hundreds of Harvard faculty members wrote an open letter protesting the inflammatory student statement, yet only after pressure from top donors to withdraw funds did the university heads begin issuing condemnations of their students’ hate-mongering.

Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, wanted Harvard to release the names of students who signed the anti-Israel statement. He explained on X (Twitter), that he does not want his company to “inadvertently hire any of the(m).”

When former Governor Jon Huntsman, alumni of University of Pennsylvania, said he was stopping his multi-million dollar donations, the school finally issued a statement condemning Hamas and its terrorist onslaught of Israel.

As anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish students increase on campus, fomented by the pro-Hamas rallies, U of Penn President Liz Magill said: “I stand, and Penn stands, emphatically against antisemitism. We have a moral responsibility … to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate.”