Huntsman Family Halting Donations to Penn in Response to Anti-Semitism
“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”
More of this needs to happen. This is how you make colleges and universities listen.
The Daily Pennsylvanian reports:
Huntsman family, longtime Penn supporters, will halt donations to ‘unrecognizable’ University
1987 College graduate Jon Huntsman Jr. told Penn President Liz Magill that his family will stop donating to Penn, stripping the University of a longtime donor amid backlash from influential trustees and alumni.
In an email to Magill obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian, Huntsman — a former University trustee, governor of Utah, and United States ambassador — said that the Huntsman Foundation will “close its checkbook” on future donations to Penn. Huntsman, whose family has donated tens of millions to Penn over the course of three generations, wrote that the University had become “almost unrecognizable” due to administrators’ response to antisemitism.
“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 after a meeting of the Board of Trustees on Friday night.
Huntsman expressed disappointment in Penn’s alleged “silence” to the attack by Hamas on Israel.
“The University’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low,” Huntsman wrote. “Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate.”
Magill and Provost John L. Jackson previously issued a statement on the Hamas attacks on Tuesday, while University Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok condemned the “atrocious terrorist attacks” on Saturday.
More recently, Magill explicitly condemned Hamas and emphasized the University’s position on antisemitism in her statement on Sunday. In her message, Magill referred to the violence from Hamas as a “terrorist assault,” a change from her initial statement.
Huntsman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether his position has changed since Magill’s latest message.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Good for him. Money talks
Finally, someone is willing to hold these schools, administrators, faculty, and students accountable. As is clear from Magill’s later statement, they are cowards and will cave as soon as they are challenged and threatened with consequences for their despicable positions.
What took him so long?