Ivy League Donor Revolt: Wall Street Titans and Arab Countries Fuel Controversy
Wall Street executives, including billionaire Marc Rowan, are engaging in a donor revolt against Ivy League universities in protest of their responses to the Israel-Hamas war. Rowan and other finance executives have been privately discussing using their influence as major donors to pressure schools into making leadership changes. At least 400 Penn alumni and donors joined a call expressing frustration with the university's current leadership, and Rowan has called on fellow donors and alumni to withhold financial support until the university's president and chairman resign. The efforts to halt donations have already had an impact, with longtime investor Steve Eisman asking Penn to remove his family's name from a scholarship. Rowan's calls to halt donations have gained attention, even reaching Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who praised the boycott call during a speech on the Senate floor.