Harvard and UPenn donor revolt raises concerns about big money on campuses

Big money donations are booming at America's colleges, helping fund higher education for millions of students.

But big donations often come with strings attached. Major donors typically give to specific purposes at schools. The biggest donors often sit on universities' board of trustees, which governs the university and selects university leadership, priorities and direction.

Private donations can be both a blessing and a curse. Donors' largesse allows schools to plug funding gaps. But those gifts can quickly become liabilities if donors' sentiments sour.

The donor backlash at the University of Pennsylvania and uproar at Harvard University over Israel and Palestine highlight how big donations often come with demands for changes to university policy and politics. The backlash has raised questions about the influence big donors wield and pressure donors may exert over leadership, hiring decisions and academic affairs.

Some pro-Israel donors and organizations that give to UPenn and Harvard have criticized administrators and withdrawn their financial support over the schools' response to Hamas' terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7 and alleged antisemitism on campus.

"I do not like making something like this about money - but it appears to be one of the only paths that has any hope of mattering, and it has become clear that it is the only voice some of us have," said hedge fund billionaire Cliff Asness, who just finished a five-year pledge to UPenn.

While tensions over free speech aren't limited to colleges, higher education experts worry the donor backlash could have a chilling effect on ideological diversity on campus and at institutions designed to serve as hubs for freedom of expression and debate on opposing viewpoints.