Donor backlash devastates Ivy League as Harvard, Columbia seek bailouts



Ivy League universities, particularly Harvard and Columbia, have faced a crisis since October 2023, when both institutions revealed themselves as places where blatant anti-Semitism openly flourishes. Amid the anti-Semitic uprisings on campus, the presidents of both schools also faced academic plagiarism charges. Alumni and donors, who expected more from the schools’ leaders and did not share the apparent tolerance for Jew-hatred, have stopped contributing financially.

As reputational and financial damage mounted, Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in disgrace last January, and Columbia President Minouche Shafik followed in August.

Despite an endowment exceeding $50 billion, Harvard had to expedite bond offerings earlier this year to quickly raise $1.6 billion in cash.

But with those poison Ivies still trying to find a way to balance a hollow commitment to “tolerance” with appeasement of the widespread anti-Semitism demanded by much of their faculty and student body, donors remain repelled, and fundraising continues to struggle.

In early October, Harvard’s new president, Alan Garber, teased that some very bad financial news was about to be revealed for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2024. The Harvard Crimson reported Garber as stating, "Some of the new commitments have been disappointing compared to past years.” In discussing the passion of alumni who are concerned about the current culture and events at Harvard, Garber added, “They’ve been quite vocal.”

The bad news came out a week later. The Harvard Crimson reported:

Harvard’s fundraising crisis now has a price tag: $151 million. Total philanthropic contributions fell by 14 percent in fiscal year 2024 as several billionaire donors publicly severed ties with Harvard over its response to campus antisemitism. The $151 million decline marks one of the most significant year-over-year drops in donations in the past decade.

The donor crisis at Columbia has worsened. The university held its annual Giving Day event this fall, but donations dropped 29% from the previous Giving Day in 2022. (Due to campus turmoil over the university community’s support of Hamas' October 2023 terror attack, there was no Giving Day in 2023.)

The Columbia Spectator laid out the bad news:

Columbia held its 12th annual Giving Day on Tuesday, raising a total of $21,362,592 after a one-year hiatus, a 28.8 percent decline in funds compared to 2022’s record-breaking year.

As the University grapples with a donor crisis—born out of concerns regarding campus protests—this year saw a 27.9 percent drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015. This year is the first that the total monetary amount of donations has declined from the previous Giving Day since the event’s inception in 2012.

Viewed over a two-year span, the situation at Columbia is simply catastrophic. The university raised $58 million combined in 2021 and 2022. But over 2023 and 2024, the combined total plummeted to just $21 million. The $38 million decrease in biennial giving represents a 64% decline.

Amid declining contributions, it seems both schools are facing a liquidity squeeze.

Despite an endowment exceeding $50 billion, Harvard had to expedite bond offerings earlier this year to quickly raise $1.6 billion in cash. The university raised $750 million in taxable bonds through Goldman Sachs and received approval from Massachusetts to issue up to $2 billion in state tax-exempt bonds. However, investor demand only supported $735 million of those state bonds, leaving Harvard more than $100 million short of its $1.6 billion goal.

Having contributions fall off further in the meantime can’t be helping Harvard’s cash crunch.

Published reports indicate that Harvard’s endowment is only about 20% in liquid assets (cash, stocks, bonds) with about 40% invested in private equity, about 30% in hedge funds, and 10% in real estate and other illiquid assets.

Several months ago, billionaire Bill Ackman noted that Harvard’s budgeting and endowment management rely on certain assumptions about alumni donations. These assumptions didn’t account for the possibility of a donor revolt and the steep decline in current-year cash gifts. Ackman speculated that Harvard’s need for quick cash to make up for lost donations led to the recent bond offerings, especially given the current high-interest rate environment.

Journalist Ira Stoll revealed that much of the cash Harvard raised was used to pay off maturing debt issued at lower interest rates and to roll over some short-term debt.

I don’t know enough to question the legitimacy of Harvard’s illiquid investments, but it is reasonable to question the “investment strategy” of Harvard’s famous endowment if it is so illiquid that even with several years lead time to prepare for bond maturity, its other investment assets cannot get converted into cash to pay off maturing bonds, thus requiring new, higher-interest debt. If an investment cannot ultimately be converted to cash, how does it have a value?

Columbia University also announced a few weeks ago that it too was hitting the bond market for a cash infusion. Columbia is seeking to raise about $500 million with this new debt, despite having an endowment valued at around $15 billion.

The Ivy League schools, especially Harvard and Columbia, have exhausted their reputational capital, and now they are exhausting their working capital. They have shown themselves to be morally and ethically bankrupt. If their liquidity problems can’t be rectified, and if donors have permanently slashed their recurring cash lifelines, perhaps financial bankruptcy is also in the offing for Harvard and Columbia. It would be a long time coming.

Taking Sides In The Jewish-Arab Conflict Is Wreaking Havoc On Ivy League Universities

The reckoning continues for Ivy League presidents who allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to terrorize their campuses.

Columbia president resigns months after violent pro-Hamas protests take over university



Minouche Shafik has resigned as president of Columbia University just a few months after radicals set up an encampment and eventually barricaded themselves inside a building to protest ongoing hostilities in Gaza and the school's ties to Israel.

On Wednesday, Shafik released a letter announcing her resignation, and she made very clear that the disruptive protests on campus last spring prompted it.

"Tension, division, and politicization have disrupted our campus over the last year," she wrote, leading to "turmoil" that has precluded open dialogue.

Though she denounced all forms of discrimination, Shafik also championed the importance of "free speech" and "openness to new ideas" and claimed that educating future leaders while still holding fast to core academic principles was Columbia's "North Star."

"I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion," she insisted.

On Thursday, Speaker Johnson celebrated the news of Shafik's resignation, calling it 'long overdue.'

Despite her alleged efforts at promoting these traditional values, Shafik said she and the students and faculty of like mind were "the subject of threats and abuse" and that the campus protests took "a considerable toll" on her family.

Tensions on campuses around the country had been simmering for months following the attacks on Israelis on October 7, but they escalated significantly in April. At that point, pro-Hamas protesters established an encampment in the center of Columbia's campus, harassed Jewish students and faculty, and demanded that Columbia leaders divest the school from Israel.

The situation at Columbia became so untenable that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) met with Shafik in late April and afterward called for her resignation.

A few days later, Shafik authorized the NYPD to arrest participants who had ignored orders to disperse, locked themselves inside Hamilton Hall, and proceeded to deface the building by breaking windows and scrawling anti-Semitic messages.

On Thursday, Speaker Johnson celebrated the news of Shafik's resignation, calling it "long overdue."

Shafik's resignation took effect immediately, just as students are set to return to campus for the fall semester. She was just one year into her term as president.

Katrina Armstrong, CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, is expected to serve as interim president until a permanent replacement can be found.

Shafik, who was born in Egypt and earned a D.Phil. in economics at Oxford, claimed she has accepted a position with the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom.

"I am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me. It also enables me to return to the House of Lords to re-engage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new U.K. government," she said.

Shafik's resignation marks the third resignation of a female Ivy League president in the last nine months. Liz Magill stepped down from her role as president at the University of Pennsylvania last December, and Claudine Gay resigned from Harvard in early January.

Both Magill and Gay struggled with pro-Hamas protests at their universities as well and were grilled by members of Congress for apparently permitting anti-Semitism to run rampant on campus on their watch. The final weeks of Gay's tenure were also marred by accusations of plagiarism and academic misconduct.

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NYPD patrol chief torches Democratic official over her 'garbage' take on removal of Hamas-anointed radicals



The president of Columbia University begged New York City's finest — "with the utmost regret — to come to the rescue of her leftist institution Tuesday after Hamas-endorsed student radicals seized control of a building on campus. The New York City Police Department obliged Minouche Shafik, sending a small army of officers to restore order.

Despite the concern-mongering of ideologically compromised professors and Democratic officials such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the operation was ultimately great success — just not according to Democratic Councilwoman Tiffany Caban of District 22.

For Caban, this fair and nonfatal enforcement of the law amounted to "a horrifying affront to democracy and free speech, and an abject failure of public safety."

Whereas the NYPD exercised incredible restraint when dealing the pro-Hamas radicals at Columbia University, its patrol chief unleashed on Caban over her "garbage" hot take.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell made clear that Caban is a "person who hates our city" and got the facts wrong.

Background

Pro-Hamas radicals illegally camped outside Columbia University for over a week, disrupting classes and making anti-Semitism an unavoidable fixture on campus. In addition to spouting off genocidal rhetoric, they demanded that the university divest from Israel.

When negotiations failed, the university set multiple deadlines for the protesters to clear out. These deadlines went unheeded, prompting the university to give an ultimatum on Monday: Leave the encampment or face suspension. That ultimatum similarly proved ineffective.

Pro-Hamas radicals ended up taking over the university's Hamilton Hall, busting doors and windows inside, barricading the entrances, and scrawling anti-Israel messages on the interior walls.

Shafik ultimately pleaded for the NYPD to intervene, stressing that the "takeover of Hamilton Hall and the continued encampments raise serious safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community." Shafik also suggested that "the actions of these individuals are unfortunately escalating."

The mayor gave the radicals yet another opportunity to leave ahead of the police intervention. Hours later, hundreds of police arrived on the scene. Using a mobile ramp system, officers entered the second story of the building and made quick work of the radicals inside.

— (@)

Outside, scores of officers cleared out the illegal encampment, hauling away the violent radicals who had elected to dig in and fight.

— (@)

Caban's alternate reality

Tiffany Caban is a radical race obsessive backed by the Democratic Socialist Alliance who has made no secret of her loathing for the police and the rule of law.

In recent years, the "queer" socialist has called for an end to the prosecution of so-called "crimes of poverty"; racial and economic impact analyses for every criminal charge; an end to cash bail; shorter sentences for felonies; and the prosecution of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who enforce federal immigration law in New York.

When running for office in 2021, she handed out "Defund the NYPD" sweatshirts with her name on the back.

Unsurprisingly, when a funded NYPD cracked down on crime this week, Caban was less than pleased.

Following the NYPD's successful removal of the illegal pro-Hamas occupation at Columbia University, Caban issued a statement smearing the police, Mayor Eric Adams, and the university's administration.

"Last night's authoritarian conduct by Columbia University administrators and Mayor Adams' NYPD were a colossal disgrace, a horrifying affront to democracy and free speech, and an abject failure of public safety," wrote Caban.

Caban called the student radicals' anti-Israel protest a "courageous stand" and suggested they should be honored "the way we would if they were Russian or Iranian students."

"Our leaders are teaching students that not only won't their peaceable assembly and petition of government result in a redress of their grievances, in fact it will land them in jail," continued the Democrat. "This is an extremely dangerous lesson to teach, and will come back to haunt those teaching it."

After making what appears to have been a veiled threat, Caban wrote, "Shame on [the political leaders responsible for this crackdown.] Solidarity with the students. Ceasefire now."

Reality check

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell responded on X, writing, "I started to read this garbage and quickly realized this is coming from a person who hates our city and certainly does not represent the great people of NYC."

Chell picked up on Caban's effort to rewrite history and decided he'd try his hand at the "word replacement game."

"Last night's criminal conduct by entitled non accountable students and the support they receive from Councilmember Tiffany Caban is a colossal disgrace. A horrifying affront to democracy and proper behavior from people who are not accountable for their behavior," wrote Chell. "This was an abject failure of how civilized people are expected to behave in society while continually acting like a perpetual victim."

Chell, who previously told Ocasio-Cortez that "good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law," added what appears to have been a note to voters: "Remember everyone, if you want change, seek the change you want by getting involved. Then you know what to do."

The chief posted his response twice. He appears to have deleted the initial post following a pile-on from leftist council members.

Democratic Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez claimed, "This post incites violence against a government official."

Democratic Councilwoman Nantasha William wrote, "Regardless of how you feel and where you stand ideologically this is dangerous and a gross use of an official Government account!"

Failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate and NYC public advocate Jumaane Williams wrote, "If you've ever wondered what a Giuliani NYPD would look like with social media, wonder no more..."

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Trust Fund Kids Protesting On Campuses Know Nothing About Oppression

Champagne Marxists smash 'things and creatures' with little regard for how much disruption or harm their actions will cause others.
Press Sec. Gets Sick of Being Asked This Question Non-Stop

Press Sec. Gets Sick of Being Asked This Question Non-Stop

Columbia bars Jewish, pro-Israel professor from campus where pro-Hamas students have taken over — cancels in-person classes



Columbia University has reportedly barred an Israel-born, Jewish professor from entering the Ivy League’s main campus, where pro-Hamas students have taken over, the New York Post reported.

Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School, has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and called for “a PEACEFUL sit in at Columbia’s declared ‘Liberation Zone’” on Monday morning amid the ongoing protests at the New York university.

Anti-Israel students set up an encampment on the lawn at the center of campus, where they have erected Palestinian flags and draped their tents with protest signs. According to the New York Times, the area is being referred to by some as the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

When Davidai arrived on campus Monday morning to hold the scheduled peaceful counterprotest, he discovered that his school identification card had been deactivated.

In a video posted to social media, Davidai shouted to fellow pro-Israel students, “I have not just a civil right, a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed by the university to be on campus.”

“They deactivated my card,” he added. “They are not letting me on main campus.”

As of last October Davidai was apparently not tenured, so I\u2019m unclear how many legal protections he has, but Columbia going back to kid-glove treatment of students occupying their campus and then firing a Jewish professor by deactivating his ID badge seems like bad optics to me
— (@)

Davidai pointed out the “irony” that his card still grants him access to Columbia’s Manhattanville campus, where he teaches.

“I was just told by [administrators] that I am [to be] let on the campus of the business school where I’m teaching tomorrow,” the Post reported. “So they are willing to use Jewish brains, but they don’t want to let Jewish people in.”

In a post on X, Davidai explained that Columbia claimed it deactivated his card because it could not ensure his safety on the main campus, given the ongoing protests.

Earlier today, @Columbia University refused to let me onto campus. \n\nWhy? Because they cannot protect my safety as a Jewish professor. \n\nThis is 1938.
— (@)

He slammed the university for continuing to protect the pro-Hamas protesters whom it has allowed to take over the campus.

“We know whose safety they can ensure — for the past five days, they’ve been ensuring the safety of the students who are calling on Hamas, to target Jewish students. That’s the safety that they are ensuring,” Davidai said.

He urged Jewish and pro-Israel students to be cautious around the protesters and called on them to take videos of the encampment.

“If they don’t let you in, and then document the fact that they’re not letting other Jewish people into campus,” he stated.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik testified before the House earlier this week. She told lawmakers that there have been several complaints about Davidai and that the university has launched an investigation into the professor.

Davidai has called for Shafik’s firing, as well as “everyone in the antisemitism task force at Columbia to resign right now.”

Last week, pro-Palestinian students took over campus and refused to leave until the university met a list of demands, which included removing funding from companies with ties to Israel, the Times reported.

Shafik called the police to remove the protesters; more than 100 arrests were made.

On Monday, the university announced that it would cancel in-person classes and switch to remote learning due to the unrest.

“I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus. Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm. Students across an array of communities have conveyed fears for their safety and we have announced additional actions we are taking to address security concerns,” Shafik wrote in a Monday statement.

She claimed that the school needs “a reset” due to increased tensions that “have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas.”

“To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday. Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so,” she added. “Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus.”

“I know that there is much debate about whether or not we should use the police on campus, and I am happy to engage in those discussions,” Shafik continued. “Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus. Antisemitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken. We urge those affected to report these incidents through university channels.”

Additional encampments sprouted up at Yale, the University of Michigan, and MIT to support the protesters arrested at Columbia.

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Compare How University Elites Responded To George Floyd’s Death And The Innocent Israeli Massacre

Ivory tower elites were quick to hail the drug addict George Floyd as a national hero. With Hamas’ attack, they’re not so black-and-white.