Ken Griffin is the latest hedge fund billionaire to put the boot into Harvard University, saying he won’t be donating until it stops producing students who are “whiny snowflakes” that are “caught up in the rhetoric of oppressor and oppressee”.
Griffin, the most profitable hedge fund manager in history – his Citadel fund has generated $74 billion (€67.9 billion) for investors since 1990 – donated $300 million to Harvard last April, but recent tensions about anti-Semitism on campus and concerns about diversity initiatives have darkened the mood among Harvard’s billionaire donor community.
Last month, billionaire businessman and commodities mogul Len Bratavnick suspended donations. Scarcely a day passes without Bill Ackman, another hedge fund billionaire and former Harvard donor, calling for change at his alma mater.
The debate tends to focus on the rights and wrongs of what’s going on at Harvard, but another question arises: why give money in the first place to the world’s wealthiest university with an endowment fund of over $50 billion?
Can’t philanthropic billionaires find better things to do with their money?
- Sign up for Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
