Harvard president Claudine Gay addresses backlash from student groups' statement
Harvard president Claudine Gay issued a more forceful message Thursday evening as the university faces backlash following student groups' statement blaming Israel for Hamas' attacks.
Top donors of universities across the country are privately pushing college officials to take a strong stance supporting Israel, in opposition to student groups who've blamed Israel for the Hamas terror attack, a New York Times report found.
Kenneth Griffin, who's given more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University, told the outlet he called up his alma mater last week after more than two dozen student groups signed a statement blaming Israel as "entirely responsible" for the massacre. Griffin urged the university's board to "come out forcefully" defending Israel in response.
Three days after the statement was released, Harvard President Claudine Gay addressed the backlash, distancing the university from the controversial document.
Griffin wasn't the only donor voicing his complaints with the slow response from universities in condemning anti-Israel demonstrations and speech by pro-Palestinian student activists on campus following the Hamas terror attack.
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Some rally attendees advocated that there should not be a dialogue between Israel and Gaza. (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)
The New York Times spoke with at least a dozen other donors, across the political aisle, who felt similarly.
While Griffin has supported Republicans, Democratic backers and billionaires Seth Klarman and Lloyd Blankfein were upset with Harvard as well.
Blankfein, the former chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said the university had committed a "grave mistake" by not immediately and forcefully condemning the "hate messages" from students.
Klarman revealed he had spoken to Harvard administration members about the controversy and called on university officials across the country to show more empathy for Israel.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has called on Harvard to release the membership lists of the student groups who put out the polarizing statement.
A polarizing statement signed by over two dozen Harvard student groups sparked outrage from some of the university's top donors, a New York Times report found. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
"I have been asked by a number of CEOs if Harvard would release a list of the members of each of the organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to [ensure] that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members," Ackman wrote Tuesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
While some donors told the Times they believed students shouldn't be blacklisted for these actions, Griffin said these students are legal adults and should be held responsible for their actions.
His own hedge fund Citadel would not hire any leader of one of the student groups who signed the Harvard letter, he said, calling it "unforgivable."
"How do you end up in such a twisted place?" Griffin wondered to the Times.
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Demonstrators attend an "emergency rally for Gaza" outside the Israeli Consulate in New York City, New York on Monday, October 9, 2023. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)
Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hundreds of Harvard faculty members also wrote an open letter to the Harvard community last week, voicing their dismay at the student statement. The faculty argued it amounted to "nothing less than condoning the mass murder of civilians based only on their nationality."
Former Utah Governor and University of Pennsylvania alumnus Jon Huntsman Jr. called out his alma mater for its initial silence on the terror attack, and announced his family was pulling its donations to the university. Huntsman’s family has donated millions of dollars to Penn over the years.
"The University’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low," Huntsman said in part. "Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate."
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Provost John Jackson Jr. condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel amid criticism from donors like Huntsman and school trustees.
Last week, pro-Palestinian student groups held protests at college campuses across the nation after the national chapter of far-left group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) posted a "call to action" on social media.
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FOX News' Jeffrey Clark and FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.