Harvard pays the price for pro-Hamas protests, anti-Semitism on campus with 15% donation drop



On Thursday, Harvard University released its fiscal year 2024 financial report, which revealed a nearly 15% decline in donations compared to the previous year, marking the most significant drop in a decade.

According to the report, the Ivy League school received $1.38 billion in donations in 2023, which plunged to $1.17 billion in 2024.

'Launched efforts to understand where and how we can improve.'

Despite the decline, Harvard did not lose its spot as the wealthiest university in the world. In fiscal year 2024, the Ivy League school generated a 9.6% return on its endowment fund, valued at $53.2 billion.

The significant donation dip can be attributed to several of Harvard’s top donors vowing to halt their funding over the university’s poor handling of the pro-Hamas campus protests.

In January, Kenneth Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel LLC, a hedge fund, called Harvard students “whiny snowflakes” and said he would no longer donate to the institution.

“I’d like that to change, and I have made that clear to members of the corporate board,” Griffin stated. “But until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues, I’m not interested in supporting the institution.”

He accused Harvard and other elite universities of “being lost in the wilderness of microaggressions, a DEI agenda that seems to have no real endgame.”

Griffin previously donated over $500 million to Harvard.

Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund firm, also declared he would no longer donate to his alma mater.

“I came to learn that the root cause of antisemitism at Harvard was an ideology that had been promulgated on campus, an oppressor/oppressed framework, that provided the intellectual bulwark behind the protests, helping to generate anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech and harassment,” Ackman wrote in a lengthy X post.

Leonard V. Blavatnik, a billionaire philanthropist, stopped donating after previously providing Harvard Medical School with $200 million, the single largest donation to the school.

Former Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in January following a massive plagiarism scandal amid already mounting criticism for her failed handling of the pro-Hamas protests.

Harvard’s new president, Alan Garber, wrote a message in the Ivy League school’s latest financial report, stating that the institution has “launched efforts to understand where and how we can improve.”

“Our task forces to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bias are focused on rebuilding not only a sense of belonging but also genuine acceptance among members of our community,” Garber wrote.

He noted that two of the school’s working groups “have outlined paths to more meaningful communication and constructive disagreement.”

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A Pennsylvania middle school reportedly tries to conceal student's gender preferences from their parents



A middle school in Pennsylvania reportedly has been encouraging teachers to conceal a student’s preferred pronouns and gender preference from the student's parents.

The New York Post reported that an email conversation between teachers and a school counselor at the Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, revealed that the student “prefers the pronouns they/them.”

“She is fine too, but [the student] likes ‘they/them’ the best,” the school counselor said via email.

The educator also suggested that “if you are emailing home, it may be best to use she/her when referring to [the student].”

The teacher’s email reportedly contained “A Guide to Supporting Trans and Gender Diverse Students,” authored by the American Psychological Association.

Reportedly an email exchange also occurred between a school counselor and two teachers about a club at the Unionville High School called the “Gender Sexuality Alliance.”

The school website described the student organization as “a student-run club which provides a safe place for students to meet, support each other, talk about issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and work to end homophobia and transphobia.”

A counselor and teacher from the Charles F. Patton Middle School discussed how to start a similar club at their school or how they might be able to give their students the opportunity to attend Gender Sexuality Alliance meetings at Unionville High.

Emails also revealed that when an online assignment prompted a student to describe themselves as being "pansexual," the school counselor encouraged the student’s teacher to “ask [the student] if they would be interested in starting some type of club or group to focus on LGBTQ+ topics/issues.”

Another teacher reportedly wrote, “Middle schoolers are NOT too young to know their sexual orientations and gender identities. LGBTQ-related content is age appropriate for them.”

Fox News reported that No Left Turn in Education, a group saying they “believe that K-12 education should be free from indoctrination and politicization,” heavily criticized the school’s actions.

The organization’s president, Dr. Elana Fishbein, said, “It is unconscionable for any teacher to go behind a parent's back to meddle in a child's mental, physical and emotional health. While us concerned parents get called domestic terrorists, it's the radical ideologues who actually threaten, harass, and intimidate parents who object to their woke agenda. No Left Turn in Education is standing up for these families and is holding officials accountable for enforcing the laws that are supposed to protect our kids.”

Gov. DeSantis accuses AG Garland of 'weaponizing the DOJ' against parents



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of "weaponizing" the Department of Justice against parents by directing the FBI to address nationwide alleged threats of violence against school boards and teachers.

"Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation," DeSantis tweeted.

"Florida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent," he said.

Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them throu… https://t.co/dzKa04sCNc

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) 1633446312.0

Garland on Monday issued a memorandum announcing that the DOJ is "committed to using its authority and resources" to investigate alleged threats of violence against school officials. The attorney general directed the FBI and U.S. attorney offices to meet with federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders within 30 days to develop strategies against an alleged "increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation's public schools."

"Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation's core values," Garland said in a statement. "Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety."

The attorney general's directions are a response to a letter the National School Boards Association sent to President Joe Biden declaring school leaders are "under immediate threat." The letter cited several instances of protesters against school mask or vaccine mandates confronting school officials and in some instances engaging in disorderly conduct or making threats against schools.

The letter cited more than 20 examples of disorderly conduct or protests at school board meetings that involved intimidation, threats, or violence, likening these incidents to "domestic terrorism" or "hate crimes."

Critics counter that the acts of violence or threats described are already illegal, and that local law enforcement is capable of handling such crimes, as demonstrated by arrests already made. They, like DeSantis, say that the NSBA's request for federal intervention and Garland's response are meant to intimidate parents and dissuade them from protesting over mask mandates, critical race theory, transgender policies, and more.

DeSantis has continually taken the side of parents in the debates over school mask requirements and other coronavirus restrictions. As governor, he required that schools that implement mask mandates give parents the ability to opt their kids out from face-mask requirements, an order that is being contested in court.