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UPenn leaders attempt to lure back donor support after antisemitism backlash: report

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Published Oct. 27, 2023, 11:47 a.m. ET

The University of Pennsylvania is desperately trying to rally donor support after many of its deep-pocketed benefactors closed their checkbooks over the Ivy League school’s failure to quickly condemn Hamas’ terror attack on Israel — weeks after it played host to a controversial pro-Palestinian festival, according to a report.

Scott Bok, chair of UPenn’s board of trustees, has been forced to defend school president Elizabeth Magill and his own positions after a group of alumni and students demanded the duo step down, citing mounting antisemitism on campus and Bok’s treatment of some of the school’s Jewish trustees, Bloomberg reported.

In recent days, Bok — the CEO of investment bank Greenhill & Co. — and Magill have reportedly been frantically phoning members of UPenn’s board in an attempt to rally support and quell opposition from donors led by Apollo Management CEO Marc Rowan.

“Our existing leadership team, with the guidance of our large and diverse trustee group, is best suited to take the university forward,” Bok told the outlet.

“Change, particularly if perceived as being forced by the withholding of contributions, would serve to only increase division within the broad university community.”

Scott Bok, the chair of the University of Pennsylvania's board of trustees, has been defending school president Elizabeth Magill and his own positions after donors have demanded that the duo step down, citing mounting antisemitism.
Scott Bok, the chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees, has been defending school president Elizabeth Magill and his own positions after donors have demanded that the duo step down, citing mounting antisemitism. REUTERS
Donors yanked financial support from UPenn after Magill green-lighted the he Palestine Writers Literature Festival, which invited speakers with a history of antisemitism during the three-day event Sept. 22 to Sept. 24.
Donors yanked financial support from UPenn after Magill green-lighted the Palestine Writers Literature Festival, which invited speakers with a history of antisemitism during the three-day event from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24. University of Pennsylvania

The Post reached out to UPenn for comment.

The embattled pleas by the school’s top leaders come as high-powered donors like Ronald Lauder — who has a $4.6 billion net worth and heads up the World Jewish Congress — and hedge fund billionaire Cliff Asness, have withdrawn their support following an initial outcry from Rowan.

Rowan — a Wharton graduate — sent a letter to the school’s newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, following the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 that called out Bok and Magill for allowing antisemitism to fester on campus.

Rowan pointed to the Palestine Writers Literature Festival that was held at UPenn from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24.

“It took less than two weeks to go from the Palestine Writes Literary Festival on UPenn’s campus to the barbaric slaughter and kidnapping of Israelis,” wrote Rowan, the chairman of the Board of Advisors at Wharton.

He and his wife donated $50 million to the business school in 2018.

“President Magill’s allowing of UPenn’s imprimatur to be associated with this conference, and her failure to condemn this hate-filled call for ethnic cleansing, normalized and legitimized violence that ranged from the targeting of Jewish students and spaces here at UPenn to the  horrific attacks in Israel,” Rowan

“I call on all UPenn alumni and supporters who believe we are heading in the wrong direction to ‘Close their Checkbooks’” until Magill and Bok resign.

Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel

Following Rowan’s missive, Lauder revealed that he made a personal – and unsuccessful – trip to Philadelphia in September to try to persuade Magill to cancel the divisive pro-Palestine literature fest, Bloomberg reported.

Apollo Management CEO Marc Rowan has been leading the opposition from UPenn donors. He penned a letter and petition that demanded Bok and Magill to resign, which has been signed by about 4,400 so far, per Bloomberg.
Apollo Management CEO Marc Rowan has been leading the opposition from UPenn donors. He penned a letter and petition that demanded Bok and Magill resign, which has been signed by about 4,400 so far, per Bloomberg. REUTERS

The event boasted a lineup that included Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who had sparked outrage last May by wearing a Nazi-style uniform during a concert in Berlin and was accused by Israel of “desecrating the memory of Anne Frank” by projecting the girl’s name during the show.

Illustrator and Palestinian author Aya Ghanameh, who has tweeted “Death to Israel” on various occasions, and Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah — who has called Israel a “demonic, sick project” and added that she “can’t wait for the day we commemorate its end” — were also invited to the fest.

Rowan had reportedly warned Bok and Magill of the event speakers’ history of antisemitic rhetoric, but the UPenn leaders had supported the decision to hold the three-day Palestine Writers Literature Festival at the school’s Wolf Humanities Center, according to Bloomberg.

Roughly 4,400 people signed a petition backed by Rowan to get Bok and Magill to step down, the outlet reported.

Representatives for Rowan at Apollo Global Management did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Cliff Asness — the founder of AQR Capital Management who has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes — penned a scathing letter to Magill that bashed the literary conference as an “antisemitic Burning Man fest.”

The 57-year-old hedge fund manager, who graduated from UPenn, continued: “I’ve recently finished a large five-year pledge to Penn and will not be considering another until such meaningful change is evident.”

The Palestine Writes Literary Festival boasted a lineup that included Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, who wore a Nazi-style uniform during a concert and was accused by Israel of “desecrating the memory of Anne Frank."
The Palestine Writes Literary Festival boasted a lineup that included Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, who wore a Nazi-style uniform during a concert and was accused by Israel of “desecrating the memory of Anne Frank.” Palestine Writes
Rowan reportedly warned Bok and Magill of the event speakers' history of antisemitic rhetoric, but the UPenn leaders had supported the decision to hold the three-day Palestine Writers Literature Festival anyways.
Rowan reportedly warned Bok and Magill of the event speakers’ history of antisemitic rhetoric, but the UPenn leaders had supported the decision to hold the three-day Palestine Writers Literature Festival anyway. Palestine Writes

“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,” added Asness in the note shared to X.

Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah who served as ambassador to China, also said last week that his family will no longer donate to his alma mater, UPenn, over its “silence” to the attack by Hamas against Israel.

How celebrities, schools, and businesses have reacted to Hamas’ terror attack against Israel

Huntsman, the son of the late petrochemical billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr., informed Magill that his charity, the Huntsman Foundation, will “close its checkbook” on future donations to the school, which in his words has become “almost unrecognizable,” according to the campus newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian.

“Moral relativism has fueled the university’s race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option,” he wrote to Magill last Friday night.

Huntsman blasted the school’s “silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel,” which he termed “a new low.”

Cliff Asness -- the founder of AQR Capital Management has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes -- penned a scathing letter to Magill last week that bashed the literary conference as an "antisemitic Burning Man fest."
Cliff Asness — the founder of AQR Capital Management has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes — penned a scathing letter to Magill last week that bashed the literary conference as an “antisemitic Burning Man fest.” Steve McGuire/X

He said that “the only response should be outright condemnation.”

Backlash over the event led the school to issue a statement defending its decision to invite the controversial speakers ahead of the late-September literature fest.

“We unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values. As a university, we also fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values,” the school said in its Sept. 12 response signed off on by three UPenn leaders, including Magill.