Family offices and wealthy investors are rocking the genteel world of philanthropy for colleges by pulling their donations in outrage over university responses to the Israel-Hamas war.
Most recently, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. sent a letter to President Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania to announce that the Huntsman Foundation is halting donations to the school, citing its “silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil.” The Huntsman family, which includes three generations of Penn graduates, has donated tens of millions of dollars to the university.
Others who are closing their checkbooks:
- Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan announced he would donate $1 rather than his typical annual contribution unless Magill and the chairman of the Penn board of trustees, Scott Bok, step down from their roles, citing his outrage that the university’s response to the attack was insufficient.
- Legendary Renaissance Technologies quant David Magerman announced that he planned to stop all donations to Penn, saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his connection to the school.
- Billionaire Estee Lauder heir Ronald Lauder has threatened to stop all donations to Penn.
- The foundation of retail billionaire and former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner said this week that it was no longer “compatible partners” with Harvard University, citing "the dismal failure of Harvard's leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand.” Others who have condemned Harvard are Pershing Square Capital Management CEO Bill Ackman, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman and MeUndies CEO Jonathan Shokrian.
- Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife, Batia, have stepped down from an executive board at Harvard after previously donating $20 million to the school.