A billionaire hedge fund manager said he’s “not interested” in funding Harvard University anymore, and blasted the institution’s push for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, according to CNBC.
Ken Griffin, who previously donated $300 million to the university, is the most recent donor to back away from the university amid its response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. Harvard is “lost in the wilderness of microaggressions” and it needs to return to its role of educating “young American men and women,” Griffin said during an interview with CNBC’s Leslie Picker at an event in Miami. (RELATED: Harvard’s ‘Diversity’ Chief Accused Of Over 40 Instances Of Plagiarism)
Billionaire Ken Griffin says he will not give any more money to @Harvard and questions their usage of DEI practices, saying they’re “lost in the wilderness.”
He gave the university a $300 million donation in 2023.
— Brandon P (@Brandopinione) January 30, 2024
Several billionaire donors have left the university following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, citing Harvard’s response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 Israelis, including many unarmed women and children.
Griffin went on to say that he’d like to start funding the university again, “but until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role” in educating ” young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues, I’m not interested in supporting the institution.”
Billionaire Len Blavatnik’s family foundation halted donations to the University in December. The Wexner Foundation, founded by billionaire Leslie Wexner, announced in October that it would not be funding Harvard due to the university’s failure “to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians” on Oct. 7.
Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer resigned from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government board on Oct. 12 due to former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s response to a letter written by over 30 student organizations blaming Israel for the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
Gay resigned from Harvard following a slew of plagiarism allegations and after her refusal to say whether or not calling for the genocide of Jews constituted a violation of the school’s code of conduct at a Dec. 5 congressional hearing alongside University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth. Allegations of plagiarism against Harvard’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, Sherri Charleston, were revealed Tuesday.
Over 70 Democratic and Republican representatives called on Gay, Magill and Kornbluth to be removed from their schools following the hearing. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce opened an antisemitism investigation into the universities after the hearing, and expanded it to include the handling of Gay’s plagiarism allegations Dec. 20.
“Where are we going with education in elite schools in America?,” Griffin asked.
Griffin did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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