New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has long provided financial backing to his alma mater, Columbia University, said he will no longer contribute to the Ivy League school—until it creates a safe environment for Jewish students on campus.
Mr. Kraft, an Orthodox Jew whose late wife Myra’s grandparents died in the Holocaust, made the announcement on April 22 in the wake of the rising hostilities behind ongoing pro-Hamas, antisemitic protests on the university’s campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan.
“I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff, and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” the sports and business executive said in a statement.
“Columbia is grateful to Mr. Kraft for his years of generosity and service to Columbia,” said a university spokesman in an emailed response to The Epoch Times’s inquiry about Mr. Kraft’s withdrawal of his financial support.
“This is a time of crisis for many members of our community, and we are focused on providing the support they need while keeping our campus safe,” said Columbia’s Vice President for Communications Ben Chang.
Mr. Kraft announced he was withdrawing financial support to Columbia, one of the top journalism schools in the United States, through his organization Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, known as #StandUpToJewishHate campaign on social media.
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“It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hate by ending these protests immediately and will work to earn back the respect and trust of the many of us who have lost faith in the institution,” Mr. Kraft, the son of a Hebrew school teacher, said.
In a recent video posted on TikTok, protesters are seen forming a human chain to block Jewish students from passing through its encampment. “Excuse me, excuse me—do you see what you are doing to us? Do you see how hostile this is?” a student is heard saying.
The video shows the group being led by a black male wearing pink Crocs, a mask, and a head scarf. Anything he shouts, the protesters repeat in full chorus.
“We have zionists who have entered our camp,” the group leader says, and the protesters respond. “We are going to create a human chain ... so that ... they do not pass this point...”
Jewish students have reportedly fled the Columbia campus out of fear for their safety.
Yola Ashkenazie was in Tel Aviv with her family and “felt safer in a war zone right now than I do on my own college campus,” she told a Fox Business reporter.
Mr. Kraft said Columbia was no longer an institution he recognized.
“I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country,” he said in the statement announcing his withdrawal of financial support.
Through various resources, The Epoch Times was able to determine that the 1963 Columbia graduate had donated at least $50 million to the school.
His relationship with Columbia extends to the university’s athletic complex, which includes Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.
A member of Boston’s Jewish community of Brookline, Mr. Kraft also donated $11 million to build the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life.
“It is my hope that in this difficult time, the Kraft Center at Columbia will serve as a source of security and safety for all Jewish students and faculty on campus who want to gather peacefully to practice their religion, to be together, and to be welcomed,” he said about the on-campus Hillel.
The 82-year-old billionaire elaborated on his discontent with his alma mater and the liberal education system in general during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
He called for an end to tenure for college professors who indoctrinate rather than teach.
“When I went to Columbia, it was a place where people listened with empathy and compassion,” he said. “And now ... we have professors who are supposed to be teaching how to think, trying to tell young people what they should think.”
Mr. Kraft is also an alumnus of Harvard University, one of many Boston area colleges where antisemitic demonstrations are also being held this week.
The university announced on April 23 that it decided to shut down and switch to remote learning for the safety of its Jewish students.
Mr. Kraft has also made generous contributions to Harvard. According to Philanthropy News Digest, Mr. Kraft donated $24 million in 2022 to its business school, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration.
In February, Mr. Kraft announced a donation of $100,000 to Uncornered, a Boston-based program that focuses on reducing homicides in the city. The donation was made as part of his $1 million pledge to social justice causes.
