Ivy League graduates must continue to combat on-campus antisemitism
Elite schools have been spooked by top donors pulling their funding due to antisemitism on campus.
This is a positive development.
It’s important to keep the pressure on.
According to reports by The Post’s Rikki Schlott, Ivy League universities are now accepting lower donation thresholds that can significantly impact a prospective student’s application. An expert suggests that the new price tag could be as low as $2 million, a substantial decrease from the prior rate of $20 million.
The decrease in donations is a result of influential figures, such as Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner and billionaire Ronald Lauder, cutting ties with schools like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania due to a lack of support for Israel. Billionaires Ken Griffin, Bill Ackman, and Len Blavatnik have also pressured universities to address antisemitism. Apollo CEO Marc Rowan encouraged other alumni to withhold donations from UPenn.
Lowering admission prices to entice more students may help maintain schools’ incomes in the short-term. However, addressing antisemitism and other issues should be the long-term goal.
Recently, Jewish students from MIT, Harvard, NYU, and UPenn shared their experiences of bigotry at a Committee on Education & the Workforce hearing. These students reported experiencing threats, assaults, and discrimination with little to no intervention from school administrators.
It’s clear that the problem isn’t just antisemitism, but it’s indicative of larger issues in academia. Donors, both large and small, must remain vigilant and continue to demand change even after the current crisis is resolved. Schools that have embraced extremism need to be rebuilt from the top down, with new board majorities committed to protecting minority rights, diversity of opinion, and open discourse. Additionally, recent DEI initiatives should be abandoned in favor of promoting true diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Considering the problematic state of academia, donors withholding funding is the only hope for cleaning it up.
