Harvard University’s financial situation could be in for another major blow.
The Harvard Crimson reported Tuesday that billionaire hedge-fund manager and megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin will pause donations to the University.
Griffin announced his donation of $300 million during his keynote speech at the Managed Funds Association, Miami, on Tuesday.
He said, “I would like to see that change. I’ve made that clear to the members of the corporate board.” “But until Harvard makes very clear that it’s going to resume its role of educating young American women and men to be leaders, problem solvers, and to take on challenging issues, I am not interested in supporting this institution.”
The 55-year-old added that he is tired of “whiny” snowflakes promoting their far-left progressive ideology using various methods such as Diversity, Equity, and inclusion programs.
Griffin asked: “Will America’s elite universities get back to their roots and educate American children, young adults, to become the future leaders of this country, or will they continue to be lost in the desert of microaggressions? Will the DEI, which seems to have no endgame in sight, remain a mere fad in the wilderness?”
Griffin, the CEO, and owner of Citadel, has also spoken out on the antisemitism issue by confirming that he will follow in the footsteps of Bill Ackman, a fellow billionaire, and refuse to hire any students who have signed an open letter calling for a boycott against Israel following the attack by Hamas by last October.
The hedge fund manager who graduated in 1988 has given the University an incredible $500 million throughout his career.
The Crimson acknowledged his generosity by explaining:
Griffin is one of the most generous donors to Harvard in modern history. Harvard College’s Financial Aid Office and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are named in his honor. The University could be hit hard by his decision to stop giving. It is already dealing with a backlash from donors.
Griffin is the second billionaire to have suspended contributions to the University in the last few months. Leonard V. Blavatnik – a billionaire philanthropist who donated $200 million to Harvard Medical School last year – announced the same thing late last season.
Idan Ofer, the shipping and chemical magnate, and his wife Batia, worth an estimated 14 billion dollars, both resigned in October from their executive board positions at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government due to their anger over the antisemitic groups supporting Hamas on campus.
Griffin’s announcement came several weeks after Claudine Gay announced her resignation as president of the University. She had refused to condemn Harvard students’ calls for genocide and a growing amount of evidence that she is a serial plagiarist.
Gay, despite her failures and apparent incompetence, refused to resign. She reportedly threatened to sue if she was removed.
