Article

2024-05-12 Fifth Column

Billionaire investor pans student protests at alma mater Harvard as ‘anarchy' as colleges surrender on divestment and Cornell pres. quits

[IsraelTimes] Kenneth Griffin says university should embrace ’Western values,’ put meritocracy ’front and center’

Billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin called on his alma mater Harvard University on Saturday to embrace "Western values," saying that the turmoil across college campuses was the product of a "cultural revolution" in US education.

Griffin, founder of US hedge fund Citadel, told the Financial Times in an interview that the US had "lost sight of education as the means of pursuing truth and acquiring knowledge" over the past decade.

"Harvard should put front and center [that it] stands for meritocracy in America...," Griffin said, adding that schools should "embrace Western values that have built one of the greatest nations in the world."

Griffin, who has donated more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University, said in January that he has halted donations to the school over how it handled antisemitism on campus.

Consequences are an important teaching tool.

"What you’re seeing now is the end-product of this cultural revolution in American education playing out on American campuses, in particular, using the paradigm of the oppressor and the oppressed," Griffin told the FT.

"The protests on college campuses are almost like performative art..," he said.
Or a hysterical temper tantrum
"Freedom of speech does not give you the right to storm a building or vandalize it," he added. "That’s not freedom of speech. That’s just anarchy."

Since the first mass arrests at Columbia University on April 18, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been detained at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington, DC, according to The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization.

Griffin, who started trading in his Harvard dormitory, spoke at the Managed Funds Association conference in Miami in January about America’s elite universities and criticized the education at the universities blaming the "DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) agenda."

Harvard has been beset by controversy over campus anti-Israel activism since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas
Hamas

war. In February, a congressional committee issued subpoenas to Harvard administrators as part of a broader investigation into antisemitism at the university. Two weeks earlier, the Department of Education opened an investigation into the university’s treatment of pro-Paleostinian students targeted by pro-Israel harassment.

In January, Claudine Gay, Harvard’s president, resigned under pressure following plagiarism allegations and a congressional hearing in which she dithered on whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated campus policy.

After weeks of protests, US universities grant hearings on divestment from Israel
[IsraelTimes] University of Minnesota becomes first college with large Jewish population to hold divestment debate; says it has less than 1% of endowment invested in companies tied to Israel.

Cornell University president quits amid campus antisemitism, Gaza protests
[IsraelTimes] In letter to university community, Martha Pollack cites ‘enormous, unexpected challenges’ posed by Gaza war, anti-Israel demonstrations, emphasizes decision to retire was her own.

Posted by trailing wife 2024-05-12 02:23|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ] Top
File under: Hamas

#1 So Griffin has been asleep the last ten years?

Posted by Huputle+Cherelet4131 2024-05-12 06:45|| 2024-05-12 06:45|| Front Page Top

#2 ^For some strange reason threats of genocide against Jews more seriously than similar threats against themselves.

Posted by Grom the reflective 2024-05-12 07:05|| 2024-05-12 07:05|| Front Page Top

#3 ^^People take

Posted by Grom the reflective 2024-05-12 07:05|| 2024-05-12 07:05|| Front Page Top

#4 Unfortunately this is just stuff he is mouthing this week. Like he was mouthing ESG gospel a short while ago.

Posted by M. Murcek 2024-05-12 07:42|| 2024-05-12 07:42|| Front Page Top

#5 So three female Ivy League presidents down, three to go...

Maybe being the First Woman To...isn't a great idea if you aren't actually, you know, qualified for the job.

Posted by Tom 2024-05-12 12:44|| 2024-05-12 12:44|| Front Page Top

#6 Griffin, who has donated more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University, said in January that he has halted donations to the school over how it handled antisemitism on campus.

This is no longer his thought of the day, M. And note that he said it to the Financial Times in a published interview otherwise about, one presumes, financial stuff. And he spoke on the theme at a Managed Funds Association conference in Miami in January, so he has been working at spreading the gospel where it will yield further consequences — as have been others.

Posted by trailing wife 2024-05-12 13:51|| 2024-05-12 13:51|| Front Page Top

00:49 Skidmark
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