על רקע המלחמה בעזה: תורמים גדולים עצרו תרומות לאונ' בארה"ב

At home, big money donors are cutting off funds to Ivy League universities. This in response to what they believe are pro-Hamas stances. Here's more. In a barrage of recent backlash, billionaire alumni from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania are closing their checkbooks. They believe college leaders are failing to take a strong stance against pro-Hamas sentiment on their campuses. At Harvard, retail billionaire Lex Wexner's foundation parted ways. And billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wanted Harvard to identify students who blamed Israel. But the University of Penn is at the center of the exits. Last week, Mark Rowan, the CEO of Apollo and a Penn alumnus, called on the university's president and the chairman of the board of trustees to resign. He also urged fellow alumni to reduce their usual donations to just $1. President John Huntsman, Jr., the former governor of Utah and a former U.S. ambassador to China, said Penn had become deeply adrift. In a letter, Huntsman told Penn president Liz McGill, Huntsman Foundation will close its checkbook on all future giving to Penn, something that has been a source of enormous pride for now three generations of graduates. He said his three siblings joined in the rebuke. Amid the backlash, McGill issued her third statement on Wednesday. She condemned Hamas terrorist attacks, blaming them for starting the war, something she didn't say in her first statement last Tuesday. Her updated stance on the war may be too little, too late, as a growing number of alumni are pulling up stakes, including billionaire Ronald Lauder of the Estee Lauder empire and hedge fund veteran David Magerman. Magerman said in a letter that the university needed its moral foundations rebuilt from the ground up. McGill has now taken responsibility for the safety and security of the Penn community. She said in her latest statement, Penn will not tolerate and will take immediate action against any incitement to violence or, of course, actual violence. Arlene Richards, NTD News.