These are the wealthy individuals who are pressuring universities due to accusations of Jewish extremism.

Under increasing pressure from leading universities like Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology due to their response to reports of rising Jewish extremism on campus, a group of wealthy individuals, ranging from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman to X owner Elon Musk, have exerted their influence, demanding the resignation of university presidents and threatening to withhold donations.

Bill Ackman calls for the resignation of Harvard’s president

Bill Ackman, whose net worth is $3.9 billion according to Forbes’ real-time ranking, led a wave of criticism against the leadership of Harvard University and students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, where he demanded college officials in October disclose the names of students who signed a statement solely blaming Israel for the Hamas attack on October 7, and urged the American League to suspend students who he claimed had removed a Jewish student from a pro-Palestinian protest (protest organizers at the time confirmed that the organizers did not touch the student in question).

Elon Musk calls for the resignation of the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person with a net worth of $241 billion according to Forbes, supported Bill Ackman’s calls for the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth, stating in a post on his social media platforms: “Calling for the extermination [death] of anyone is of course harassment.”

Threats to withdraw donations and suspended contributions

Ronald Lauder, chairman of Clinique Laboratories and the youngest son of cosmetics pioneer Estée Lauder with a net worth of $4.6 billion, threatened in October to suspend his donations to the University of Pennsylvania, writing a letter to former president Magill stating that the school’s leadership forced him to “reconsider my financial support in light of the lack of satisfactory measures to address Jewish extremism on campus.”

Although the university initially defended Bok and Magill, the duo resigned within hours of each other after renewed calls for Magill’s resignation following her testimony in Congress earlier this month.

Mark Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management with a net worth of $5.9 billion, threatened to confront the leadership of the University of Pennsylvania in an op-ed in The Free Press on October 11, where he objected to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival. In his article, Rowan urged donors to “close their checkbooks” until Magill and Bok resigned.

Leon Cooperman, founder of a $2.8 billion hedge fund, threatened to withdraw his donations to Columbia University in October due to pro-Palestinian protests on campus, stating on the show “The Claman Countdown” on Fox Business that these students have “empty minds.” He also called on university officials to fire modern Arab politics professor Joseph Massad, referring to an article published on October 8 where the professor described the Hamas attack on Israel as “wonderful” (Massad also faced calls for resignation in a petition online signed by nearly 79,000 people).

On the other hand, Henry S. Miller, founder of Talpion Fund Management and an MBA graduate from Columbia University, abruptly withdrew from the board of the Columbia Business School last month, claiming that “anti-Semitic student groups and faculty are allowed to operate without any punishment” at the Ivy League university in Manhattan, and that the school’s reputation and integrity have been exposed to a “significant threat that cannot be repaired by moral cowardice.”

Threats to withdraw donations and suspended contributions

Ross Stevens, CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management and a University of Pennsylvania alumnus (although he was not ranked among the wealthy by Forbes), threatened last week to withdraw a $100 million donation in Stone Ridge stock, stating that the school had violated the main donation agreement, and he said the Ivy League has adopted a “permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and an indifferent stance toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students” (Magill resigned two days after Stevens sent the letter).

Confirmation

Harvard President’s Continued Tenure

Amid rising calls for her resignation, Harvard’s governing body announced on Tuesday morning that Gay will continue in her position, defending Gay as the “right leader to help our community recover and address the serious collective problems we face.” This announcement comes three days after Magill announced her resignation from the University of Pennsylvania.