Wharton donor threatens to withdraw $100M due to antisemitism controversy at Penn

A University of Pennsylvania alum is threatening to withdraw a $100 million donation to the university’s business school in protest of Penn President Liz Magill’s response to reported antisemitism on campus. 

In 2019, the Wharton School – which is Penn’s business school – announced the creation of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance. Ross Stevens -- a 1991 Wharton graduate and CEO of the New York-based financial services firm Stone Ridge Asset Management -- donated funding to the center, which supports research in financial technology, also known as FinTech, making it one of the first research centers of its kind. 

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On Thursday, attorneys for Stevens wrote a letter to Penn’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel Wendy White announcing they planned to withdraw their donation, now valued at approximately $100 million, due to the ongoing controversy over antisemitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas War and Magill’s response to it. 

“Mr. Stevens and Stone Ridge are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus,” the attorneys wrote. 

Stevens also threatened to rescind Penn's shares with his company unless Magill was removed from leadership.

"Absent a change in leadership and values at Penn in the very near future, I plan to rescind Penn’s Stone Ridge shares to prevent any further reputational and other damage to Stone Ridge as a result of our relationship with Penn and Liz Magill," Stevens wrote.

The Wharton Business School advisory board has also joined the chorus calling for Magill to step down, according to a letter obtained by Penn student newspaper Daily Pennsylvanian.

"The letter describes the Board's concern about 'dangerous and toxic culture' at Penn that they said the University leadership has allowed to exist," the DP reported. "The letter adds that the University leadership 'does not share the values of our Board.'"

Magill was grilled during a five-hour hearing Tuesday, along with Harvard President Claudine Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth, on how their institutions had responded to instances of antisemitism on campuses. Their carefully worded responses faced swift backlash from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers as well as the White House.

Much of the blowback centered on a heated line of questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who repeatedly asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate each university’s code of conduct.

Magill said that whether hate speech crossed the line into violating Penn’s policies depended on context.

“If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment,” Magill said.

Magill expanded on her answer on Wednesday, saying a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment or intimidation.

“I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate,” Magill said in a video statement released by the university. “It’s evil, plain and simple.”

Magill called for a review of Penn’s policies, which she said have long been guided by the U.S. Constitution, but need to be “clarified and evaluated” as hate spreads across campus and around the world “in a way not seen in years.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who is also Jewish, told reporters on Wednesday that Magill’s response was “an unacceptable statement.”

“I’ve said many times, leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity. And Liz Magill failed to meet that simple test,” he said. “I think whether you’re talking about genocide against Jews, genocide against people of color, genocide against LGBTQ folks, it’s all in the wrong. And it needs to be called out. And it shouldn’t be hard. And there should be no nuance to that. She needed to give a one-word answer. ”

Stevens’ attorneys wrote that Penn’s “permissive approach” and “laissez faire attitude” toward hate speech against Jewish students violated policies or rules prohibiting harassment and discrimination based on religion. 

“President Magill’s December 6, 2023 post on X admitted as much, when she belatedly acknowledged – only after her Congressional testimony went viral and demands for her termination amplified – that calls for genocide of the Jewish people constitute harassment and discrimination,” the attorneys wrote. 

The attorneys wrote that Penn’s overall response to antisemitism violated their “limited partner agreement” with Stone Ridge due to the school’s “violations of laws or rules applicable to Stone Ridge that are ‘materially injurious to [Stone Ridge’s] business, reputation, character or standing.’”

“Mr. Stevens and Stone Ridge would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further and give the University a chance to remedy what Stone Ridge believes are likely violations of the LP Agreement if, and when, there is a new University President in place,” they wrote. “Until then, there can be no meaningful discussion about remedying the University’s ongoing failure to honor its obligations.” 

NBC10 reached out to Penn for comment on the letter from Stevens' legal team.

"The University can’t comment on personal decisions of our donors," the spokesperson wrote.

The House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee launched an investigation into Penn, MIT, and Harvard to hold the schools accountable over their responses to on-campus antisemitism.

A protest was also held outside of Magill’s office at Penn on Thursday and on Tuesday two Penn students filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming the Ivy League institution has become "an incubation lab for virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment, and discrimination."