Billionaire Ken Griffin stops contributions to Harvard, calls current students 'whiny snowflakes'
Griffin has donated over $500 million to Harvard over the years
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Harvard Divinity School student Shabbos Kestenbaum discusses antisemitism on campus on 'The Bottom Line.'
Billionaire Ken Griffin announced Tuesday that he would stop giving money to Harvard University, calling today's elite college students "whiny snowflakes" who are more focused on politics than on traditional education.
"Until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role as [educators of] young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues, I am not interested in supporting the institution," Griffin told CNBC’s Leslie Picker during the MFA Network Miami conference, according to CNN.
Students at elite institutions like Harvard, Griffin said, are "caught up in the rhetoric of oppressor and oppressee" and are "just like whiny snowflakes."
Billionaire Ken Griffin announced Tuesday that he would stop giving money to Harvard University, calling current students "whiny snowflakes" who are focused on politics more than traditional education. (Reuters / Getty Images)
"Will America’s elite universities get back to the roots of educating American children — young adults — to be the future leaders of our country or are they going to maintain being lost in the wilderness of microaggressions and a DEI agenda that has no real endgame," he said.
Griffin, who has a net worth of over $37 billion, according to Forbes, is one of the richest people in the world and is a graduate of Harvard. In total, he has donated over "$500 million" to his alma mater, CNN reported, including a $150 million donation that "Harvard said holds the record for the 'largest single gift to undergraduate financial aid and to Harvard College.'"
Griffin gave $300 million to Harvard in April, after which the university announced that it would rename the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after the billionaire in his honor.
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Billionaire investor and influential Harvard alum Bill Ackman has also launched a concerted campaign on social media to pressure the school to battle antisemitism on campus. (Photo by Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Ken’s exceptional generosity and steadfast devotion enable excellence and opportunity at Harvard," then-Harvard President Larry Bacow said in a statement at the time. "His choice to support FAS underscores the power of education to transform lives and to expand the reach of our research in every field imaginable."
Harvard has lost the support of multiple major donors as accusations against the university of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus have continued to build.
In December, billionaire Len Blavatnik paused donations to Harvard University over its handling of ex-Harvard President Claudine Gay's controversial appearance before Congress.
Billionaire investor and influential Harvard alum Bill Ackman has also launched a concerted campaign on social media to pressure the school to battle antisemitism on campus.
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Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
FOX Business' Breck Dumas and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
