Amid the series of plagiarism scandals and questions on its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy, Harvard University continues to lose big-time donors.
Adding to the list was its billionaire donor, Ken Griffin who slammed the university for producing “whiny snowflakes” instead of focusing on academics.
The founder of Citadel has donated about $500 million to Harvard.
However, at the MFA Network Miami Conference, the billionaire bucks at funding the university but would “like that to change.”
Griffin clarified, “And I’ve made that clear to members of the corporate board. But until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues — I’m not interested in supporting the institution.”
The hedge fund billionaire also hit Ivy League universities for creating “whiny snowflakes” and asked, “Are we going to educate the future leaders of the House, the Senate, and IBM?” he continued. “Or are we going to educate a group of young men and women who are caught up in a rhetoric of oppressor and oppresses and ‘this is not fair’ and, frankly, just whiny snowflakes.”
Griffin earlier said that he was not interested in hiring any Harvard student who signed the open letter during the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, which solely blames Israel for the October 7 attack.
He also slammed disgraced Harvard President Claudine Gay and the other presidents of two elite universities who failed to give a clear answer when asked by Congress if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their school’s code of conduct.
“It was heartbreaking to me to watch the testimony in front of Congress when asked a very simple question about, ‘How would you react to calls for genocide on campus?’ I mean this is a simple answer: ‘You can ask my lawyers, but I’m gonna tell you as the president of the fill-in-the-blank university, there is no tolerance for calls for genocide on my campus.'”
In April last year, the billionaire described Harvard as a “great institution” and gave props to its Faculty of Arts and Sciences for its commitment “to advancing ideas that will shape humanity’s future, while providing important insight into our past.”
Aside from Griffin, billionaires Leslie Wexner and Len Blavatnik announced they would halt their donations to the school.
Former Harvard President Claudine Gay only stepped down amid backlash last month.
