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. |
"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
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.