Harvard University continues to lose multimillion-dollar donations after anti-Semitic comments made by Claudine Gay, president of the institution, during a congressional hearing.
This Thursday, it was revealed that billionaire Len Blavatnik's foundation, which has donated at least $270 million to the university, decided to suspend its contributions after Gay avoided explicitly condemning the call for the genocide of Jews.
According to Forbes, the family foundation will keep its donations suspended until the university addresses the growing concern about anti-Semitism on campus much more effectively.
Notably, several billionaires have already decided to pause or halt their donations to elite universities in response to the way these institutions are handling anti-Semitism.
The Wexner Foundation, founded by billionaire Leslie Wexner, was another of those that decided to stop funding Harvard. The organization explained in October that it would no longer donate due to the lack of a clear position against the "barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians."
Harvard's Claudine Gay Under Fire: Now Billionaire Blavatnik Pauses Donationhttps://t.co/LLEIgu7pGY pic.twitter.com/7uqpaY4XCy
— Forbes (@Forbes) December 21, 2023
Harvard is facing a difficult financial situation
David Bergeron, retired deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, said Harvard University is finding it increasingly challenging to raise donations.
"The problem Harvard has is that all their sources of revenue are strained. Their ability to raise money is clearly strained, and their ability to leverage federal programs is potentially at risk," he said.
However, finances have not been the institution's only problem since its president's remarks. Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer resigned from the board of trustees of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on October 12 due to the university's response to Israel-related events.
In addition, a major law firm also decided to take reprimanding action by ceasing to hire staff on the Harvard campus precisely because of Gay's comments to Congress.
"We have no intention of returning to on-campus recruiting unless there is a sea change. The easiest solution would be for Harvard to simply remove Dr. Gay but would, in many ways, just gloss over the core problem," the firm, Edelson PC, said in a letter to Harvard Law's director of recruitment and operations.
