Hamas’ barbarism spawns donor revolt
America’s higher ed elites keep proving they’re overrated extremists
(Photo credits: Harvard logo from logomyway blog; Idan Ofer from Splash 247; and University of Pennsylvania from Penn Brand.)
Americans must stop pretending our elite institutions of higher education graduate “our best and brightest.”
The Hamas barbarism in Israel on Oct. 7 threw open the doors to the moral and intellectual rot in U.S. academia. Its leaders, faculty, and students, by and large, have no moral compass.
Instead, these renowned institutions hire repugnant radicals. Teaching students to allow opposing views and to pursue the truth has been replaced by indoctrinating extremists who sign statements saying, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence. The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.” That was 34 Harvard student organizations.
We’ve known about their: radical professors; campus speech codes; shouting down speakers, or assaulting them, like Riley Gaines at San Francisco State University; and the alphabet soup of virtue signaling the leftist cause du jour.
Beyond higher ed, some of these people are business executives, elected officials, judges, doctors, and teachers, among others.
The Hamas attack in Israel Oct. 7, perpetrated with rape, kidnapping, and murder, evoked mind-numbing justifications from scores of anti-Semites.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
Conservatives have debated for decades how to claim major institutions. They’ve anticipated a moment of clarity, but no one saw this Hamas attack on Israel as an inflection point.
The day after Hamas’ attack, the Democratic Socialists of America conducted a pro-Palestinians rally in New York City. Similar rallies unfolded in other cities worldwide.
By Oct. 9, the corporate world and higher education reacted to the events that were still being revealed and reported. The college donor revolt was on.
The first move wasn’t about money for Harvard, rather the students who signed on to the anti-Israel statement.
Bill Ackman, billionaire founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, demanded Harvard turnover the names of students who signed the statement, so Wall Street would not hire them.
“I have been asked by a number of CEOs if Harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members,” Ackman posted on his X account, also Twitter.
He quickly had a dozen CEOs in his corner.
Lawrence Summers, Harvard President Emeritus and former U.S. Treasury secretary, went on social media: “In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today.”
Harvard’s delayed response and appalling moral courage elicited this by Summers:
The delayed Harvard leadership statement fails to meet the needs of the moment. Why can’t we find anything approaching the moral clarity of Harvard statements after George Floyd's death or Russia's invasion of Ukraine when terrorists kill, rape and take hostage hundreds of Israelis attending a music festival?
The hypocrisy across higher ed and corporate America regarding the Hamas attack on Israel reeks to the depths of hell. They trip over themselves to be first on Black Lives Matter and Ukraine, but they don’t have the guts for the Hamas atrocities, Uyghur genocide in China, and other issues.
However, the drama only started for Harvard University.
A few thousand alumni, faculty, students, and others released a statement countering the Palestinian student groups.
Harvard Hillel, Harvard’s Jewish center, released a statement saying:
In the strongest terms, we oppose this outrageous statement that blames Israel for the violence carried out by Hamas terrorists - a group that has opposed peace and called for Israel’s destruction since it was founded. We expect the Harvard community to do better.
Harvard’s university newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported that Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak called on Harvard’s leadership to remove the Palestinian student organizations’ school affiliations.
“I have a lot of criticisms of Israeli policies, but everyone who signed this statement is condoning terrorism, rape, and murder,” Barak wrote on X, The Harvard Crimson reported.
By Oct. 12, Israeli billionaire Idan and Batya Ofer stepped down from the executive board of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, according to the Hebrew-language news site The Marker (paywalled). The Ofers also withdrew millions of dollars planned for Harvard.
By Oct. 16, the Wexner Foundation, established by Leslie and Abigail Wexner of Columbus, OH, ended their deep pockets connected to Harvard, The Harvard Crimson reported.
“In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and the Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” Wexner’s letter stated.
Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania is reeling from a donor revolt because it failed to say anything, even after its controversial Palestine Writes Literature Festival in February. The Free Press reported Oct. 18:
Apollo CEO and University of Pennsylvania mega donor Marc Rowan announced in The Free Press that he was closing his checkbook. Accusing UPenn’s leaders of ‘allowing anti-Jewish hate to infect their campus,’ he said that he would not donate to the college as long as Liz Magill and Scott Bok remained in place as president and chairman, respectively.
The Free Press and New York Sun reported others joined Rowan, including: David Magerman; John Huntsman, former Utah governor and former U.S. ambassador to China, Russia, and Singapore; Jonathan Jacobson; Ronald Lauder; Daniel Lowy; and Clifford Asness.
From Cornell and Columbia to UCLA and Arizona State, Hamas fueled a higher ed horror show of hatred of Jews.
The consequences cannot be just a revolt of donors and alumni. State lawmakers, and perhaps, federal lawmakers must act too. It’s long overdue.