LETTER FROM NEW YORK
Have they been champing at the bit for months against these leftist students who are followers of wokism and cancel culture ? The fact remains that American billionaires came out of their wits when certain Harvard student associations blamed the State of Israel for the Hamas terrorist attacks.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the violence that is taking place”wrote, on October 10, thirty-four student associations on campus, mainly groups of Muslim minorities who, without a word for the Israeli victims, neither the women nor the murdered children, added: “The days to come will require a firm stand against colonial reprisals. We call on the Harvard community to take action to end the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians. »
Kenneth Griffin, the billionaire founder of the Citadel hedge fund, picked up his phone to demand that the management of the famous University of Massachusetts step up to defend the Jewish state. This man, who gave 500 million dollars (468 million euros) to Harvard, did not lose his temper, notably in an interview with New York Timesqualifying it as“unforgivable” the letter from the student associations. He is not the only one. Whether non-Jewish – like Mr. Griffin who is Presbyterian – or Jewish, the university’s alumni went on the attack.
The head of the Pershing Square hedge fund, Bill Ackman, requested the list of members of the signatory associations. “A number of CEOs have asked me if Harvard would publish a list of members of each of the Harvard organizations that published the letter attributing full responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, to ensure that no one “among us doesn’t inadvertently hire one of them”, Mr. Ackman tweeted.
Faced with criticism, the financier persisted: “Would you hire someone who blamed the victims for the despicable violence of a terrorist group? I do not think so. Would you hire a member of a school association who issued a statement blaming victims of lynchings perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, I don’t think so. »
A “McCarthy” type blacklist
Some took action, such as the famous law firm Davis Polk, which canceled the employment offers made to three students from Harvard and Columbia in New York, other universities having experienced controversies similar to those from Harvard.
You have 59.16% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.