Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin: Harvard produces ‘whiny snowflakes’

“I’m not interested in supporting the institution,” Griffin said of Harvard at the MFA Network conference in Miami on Tuesday. The billionaire said the university must make clear that it will “resume its role educating young American men and women to be leaders and problem solvers.”

Griffin, an alumnus who donated $300 million to Harvard last year, joins a wave of wealthy donors who have halted gifts because of concerns over the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in addition to broader concerns over the influence of diversity initiatives and left-wing bias at the university. 

Harvard is still struggling to resolve tensions even after President Claudine Gay resigned this month amid an onslaught of criticism over her response to antisemitism, as well as accusations of plagiarism in her scholarship.

The school has also come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers, students and alumni. Two congressional committees have begun investigations, with one of them criticizing Harvard last week for providing “woefully inadequate” responses to its questions. The US Education Department is conducting its own probe of discrimination including antisemitism and Islamophobia at Harvard and other schools.

Harvard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Griffin’s remarks. 

The founder of hedge fund Citadel, whose net worth is valued at $36.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, said he was concerned after watching Gay’s Dec. 5 testimony in Congress, where she declined to condemn calls for genocide against Jews as a violation of university policies.

Griffin said he told members of Harvard Corp., the university’s top…