A large donor to the University of Pennsylvania is withdrawing a donation around $100 million in response to the college’s handling of antisemitism on campus.
Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, donated to Penn in 2017 to help the university establish a financial innovation center.
Attorneys for Stevens sent the university a letter indicating the school violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement through its failure to adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules.
The letter said that Stevens and Stone Ridge “are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus.”
It claimed that Penn’s “permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge.
The letter also noted President Liz Magill’s testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee this week in which she said that whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people are prohibited speech on campus are “context-dependent” and would violate Penn’s rules against bullying and harassment if it was “directed,” “pervasive” and “severe.”
Stevens’ letter to the university indicated that he and Stone Ridge would be willing to reconsider the withdrawal of his donation only after the school has replaced Magill in the role of president.