(Daily360.com) – The financial fallout from Harvard University over their seemingly unqualified President, Claudine Gay just keeps mounting. The latest funder who has announced a draw down in funding is Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik. The businessman, his wife Emily, and their foundation, have been large donors to the school for years, giving roughly $270 million to the school with about $200 million going to the medical school over the years.
Blavatnik, attended the Harvard Business School and was an active alumnus but now says he cannot support the school as long as Gay, who he sees as an antisemite, remains in power. Blavatnik has also said he is not sure what it would take to get him to donate to the school again, signaling a token removal of Gay may not be enough at this point. Blavatnik, who is Jewish, is the latest big donor to stop donating to the school in the aftermath of Gay’s widely panned testimony before Congress and her perceived refusal to condemn the calls for Jewish genocide on campus.
Recently, Les Wexner the CEO of Victoria’s Secret also cut off funding to Harvard after more than three decades of steady financial support. Bill Ackerman, the powerhouse Hedge fund investor and Harvard Business School alum, has ceased his support as well. The U.S. government has announced they are considering the halting of billions of dollars in funding to the University. The Department of Education has announced a probe into the school over possible civil rights abuses related to Jewish students.
Harvard professors recently signed onto a letter giving their overwhelming support to Gay. The school has thus far stated they will not be firing or removing their now controversial president. Gay has additionally received criticism for what appears to be years of plagiarism. Harvard acknowledged what they called “examples of duplicative language” in her 1997 dissertation. Instead of firing her for this ethical breach they allowed her to make corrections to her citations. Dr. Carol Swain, one of the highly respected authors that Gay is believed to have plagiarized has called for Gay’s immediate removal for academic fraud.
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