Citadel LLC CEO Ken Griffin stopped donating to Harvard University after it took a partisan position on issues such as rising antisemitism following the start of the war in Israel and diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI).
"No... And I've made that clear to members of the corporate board. I’m not interested in supporting the institution. [Harvard must] resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers," Griffin said during the Managed Funds Association conference, in statements reported by Bloomberg, after being asked if he stopped financially supporting the university.
The investor took advantage of the opportunity to question whether Harvard and other universities that have adopted similar positions really want to change their policies or not:
Will (they) get back to their roots of educating American children, young adults, to be the future leaders of our country, or are they going to maintain being lost in the wilderness of microaggressions (and) a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) agenda that seems to have no real end game?
Griffin is not the first to cancel his donations
Educated at Harvard, Griffin became one of the university's megadonors. Since graduating in 1989, he has invested at least $450 million in the university, according to Forbes.
With this decision, Griffin joins other patrons who have also decided to cancel their donations, such as Len Blavatnik - also a former student - who has donated at least $270 million.
Billionaire and former Victoria's Secret CEO Leslie Wexner also joined the list. In October 2023, he decided to cut his donations due to a very specific reason: Harvard didn't condemn Hamas' attacks against Israel. "Harvard’s leaders were indeed tiptoeing, equivocating... 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. Our core values and those of Harvard no longer align," he said in a statement.
Harvard lacks freedom of speech
Griffin was very clear when it came to justifying his arguments for suspending his donations. Last year, Harvard was given the worst score in its history on the college free speech ranking.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) determined, through a study, that 52% of students felt they needed to remain silent on one or more occasions to avoid suffering consequences from the university. Of them, conservative students were the most affected.
