Another UPenn donor cuts off funding as the school engages in damage control

Another major donor to the University of Pennsylvania is halting donations to the school until it changes course in rooting out antisemitism on campus and supporting freedom of expression.

Clifford Asness, a hedge fund manager and co-founder of AQR Capital Management who holds degrees from the university, wrote to UPenn President Elizabeth Magill to say “what has been going on at Penn is unacceptable” and that the school has turned away from freedom of thought and expression. 

He said he has “long been dismayed” about the “drift away from true freedom of thought, expression and speech at our best Universities, very much including my beloved alma mater Penn.”

“Then, a few weeks ago, Penn’s hosting an antisemitic Burning Man festival pushed matters further,” Asness wrote. He was referring to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival that featured speakers who have faced accusations of antisemitism. 

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“I’m 100% for free speech but not asymmetrical free speech where some have it and some don’t. Imagine Penn’s action if that event was as anti- anyone else other than Jews!? Hiding behind ‘free speech’ when it is a right only embraced for antisemites and other fellow travelers is not OK.”

Asness went on to take issue with the university’s response to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, which killed at least 1,400 Israelis and 31 Americans. 

“Of course, most distressing to me was your first statement making vague equivalences between the intentional murder of children (and others) by terrorists and the accidental injury to children that sadly occurs when murdering terrorists hide behind children to escape justice,” he wrote. “There is no semblance of equivalence. I must believe this equivalence was not your goal. But it clearly reads that way to me.”

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Asness added that while he loves Penn and still has “hope for meaningful change (not just on antisemitism but on free expression of all ideas)” his “hope is currently at a low ebb.” 

He indicated that having recently completed a five-year pledge of donations to UPenn, he “will not be considering another until such meaningful change is evident” and that “I do not like making something like this about money – but it appears to be one of the only paths that has any hope of mattering, and it has become clear that is the only voice some of us have.”

“We are devastated by the horrific assault on Israel by Hamas that targeted civilians and the taking of hostages over the weekend,” Magill wrote in an Oct. 10 statement. “These abhorrent attacks have resulted in the tragic loss of life and escalating violence and unrest in the region.”

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On Oct. 15, Magill released a message saying the “University has made public statements denouncing acts of antisemitism on our campus and the terrorist attacks in Israel.

“I, and this University, are horrified and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians. There is no justification — none — for these heinous attacks, which have consumed the region and are inciting violence in other parts of the world.”

Magill has faced calls for her resignation from prominent UPenn alumni, including Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, over her actions in response to the Palestine Writes Festival and her response to Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel.

Scott Bok, chair of the Penn Board of Trustees, wrote Monday that current and former trustees held two virtual conversations with Magill to update and seek guidance from university leaders. Bok wrote that the trustees “discussed the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel, condemning the horrific atrocities and expressing solidarity with the Jewish community. They also talked through the impact this challenging moment is having on Penn’s campus, including the recent antisemitic incidents and speakers.”

Bok wrote that Magill shared her messages to the UPenn community, the university’s steps to educate and combat antisemitism and committed to communicating progress on those fronts. He added that it was the “unanimous sense of those gathered that President Magill and her existing University leadership team are the right group to take the University forward.”

“The escalating violence in Israel and Gaza has no clear end in sight and reverberates around the world, including on our campus,” Magill wrote Wednesday about demonstrations on campus. “I have condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks that set these tragic events in motion. We mourn the loss of innocent lives across the region.

“Penn will not tolerate and will take immediate action against any incitement to violence or, of course, actual violence. The safety and well-being of all our students, faculty, and staff comes first.”