David Magerman (LinkedIn)
Cliff Asness, a hedge fund billionaire, and David Magerman, a high-tech entrepreneur, have both now joined the chorus of big donors closing their checkbooks to the University of Pennsylvania over its failure to condemn Hamas’ barbaric attack on innocent Israeli civilians. And at issue for both was a Palestine Writes Literature Festival the school held just a few weeks before the attack where the writers all condemned Israel.
This comes after Apollo Management CEO Marc Rowan demanded that the supporters of the Ivy League school “close the checkbooks” to the school after it failed to condemn last week’s barbaric attack on innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists.
On the hypocrisy of elite universities in America on such matters, Cliff Asness tweeted, “Cry some more crocodile tears over the free speech you always suppress except when you agree.”
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This came in response to a statement from the University of Pennsylvania’s leadership that said, “As Tri-Chairs of the University of Pennsylvania Faculty Senate, we write to affirm our commitment to freedom of thought, inquiry, and speech as foundational values of our University. These values are being threatened by individuals outside of the University who are surveilling both faculty and students in an effort to intimidate them and inhibit their academic freedom.”
Before that, Cliff Asness sent a letter to the University of Pennsylvania saying, “I’m 100% for free speech but not asymmetrical free speech where some have it and some don’t. Imagine Penn’s action if that event was as anti- anyone else other than Jews!? Hiding behind ‘free speech’ when it is a right only embraced for anti-Semites and other fellow travelers is not ok.”
In saying that he would not donate any more money to the school, Cliff Asness wrote, “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 it is the only voice some of us have.”
As for David Magerman, a graduate of the school, he wrote in a letter to University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Scott Bok, chair of the school’s board of trustees, “I am deeply ashamed of my association with the University of Pennsylvania. I refuse to donate another dollar to Penn.”
“Jews have played an extraordinary role in the history and legacy of the University of Pennsylvania. And Jews have benefitted from their affiliation with Penn,” David Magerman added. “But regardless of the economic and social value of a Penn or Wharton degree, there is no place for self-respecting Jewish people at an institution that supports evil.”
