The 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment' on College Green is prompting renewed scrutiny of Penn administration by some of the donors who have been most outspoken in their disapproval of the University since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
In light of alumni's role in the resignation of former Penn President Liz Magill over her own handling of pro-Palestinian activism, The Daily Pennsylvanian contacted over 150 of the University's largest donors to understand how they view the encampment, including several alumni who paused their financial support last fall. Whether Interim Penn President Larry Jameson's handling of the encampment will have a financial impact remains unclear.
The ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstration began Thursday afternoon following the intersection of a march beginning at City Hall and a faculty walkout on Penn’s campus. After Jameson called on the encampment to disband immediately on Friday night, the encampment has remained present on campus, and organizers have stated that they will remain at the encampment until their three demands are met.
The encampment's three main goals are the disclosure of University investments, financial divestment from Israel, and the defense of Palestinian students — including the reinstatement of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, which was banned last weekend. A source familiar told the DP that PAO was banned due to three violations of University requirements.
Several alumni have taken views of the encampment that resemble broader discourse over when and whether anti-Israel protests approach antisemitism.
1984 College graduate Steven Eisman, a senior portfolio manager at investment firm Neuberger Berman, donated at least $25,000 to Penn between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014, according to Penn’s annual giftbook from that time. On Nov. 2, 2023, Eisman publicly requested that Penn remove his name from a scholarship amid donor backlash over Penn’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.
Eisman called the encampment and similar protests an "expression of Jew hatred that can’t be tolerated.”
“If I was at the University, which obviously I'm not, I would give them a three hour window to vacate the premises," Eisman said on Friday afternoon. “And if they don't, they'll all be expelled. Effective immediately.”
The Philadelphia Police Department has not indicated it will become involved in the encampment, although it has said it is "monitoring" the demonstration. Jameson has said that the encampment is responsible for policy and legal violations.
Eisman added that he would like to see every professor participating “fired immediately,” and “whatever disciplinary actions that University rules allow” taken against tenured professors participating.
He cited the rhetoric used by protestors — specifically chants of “From the river to the sea” — as justification for his perspective.
In response to a request for comment on the encampment, an anonymous large financial donor said that — while they are not familiar enough with the encampment to comment on it — they would like to have the administration take a stronger stand against hate speech on campus.
The donor added that they have previously been in communication with University administration regarding the difference between free speech and hate speech, the latter of which they said "the administration does not seem to want to do anything about."
1979 Wharton graduate Philip Darivoff, the chair of an asset management firm, is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, an ex officio member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors, and a former member of the Wharton School’s Board of Advisors.
In response to a request for comment, Darivoff — whose donation established the Ella Darivoff Directorship in the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies — directed the DP to an opinion article from a Gaza resident which alleges that campus protesters are hurting the Palestinian cause.
1960 and 1961 engineering graduate Melvyn Miller — who was also a Penn lecturer — donated more than $100,000 to Penn in 2023, according to the Engineering Honor Roll. He said that three generations of his family have donated to Penn, but his family paused donations to the University in fall 2023 — describing himself as “one of the donors who has held up very substantial donations,” but clarifying that his family has not permanently stopped donating.
Miller described the encampment as “counterproductive for the people who were doing it and for the University.” When asked how he would like University administrators to respond to the encampment, Miller said that he “[doesn’t] think it matters."
“The war is going to go on … I can assure you that both sides have strong feelings and those feelings are not going to go away,” he said. “People are proceeding essentially on passions. They're going to do what they're going to do, and none of it matters."
Miller also criticized “some people in the University faculty” prioritizing “fairly poorly defined philosophical constructs, such as academic freedom and freedom of speech” over Penn’s federal funding — citing an ongoing investigation from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce into alleged antisemitism on Penn’s campus and the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“But this month, I can assure you [that] federal funding that Penn gets is in danger,” Miller said.
Both the rights to academic freedom and freedom of speech on campuses are central to a number of ongoing debates at Penn and nationwide. 1987 Wharton and Engineering graduate Richard Forman, who donated over $100,000 to Penn in 2023, previously served on Penn Engineering's Board of Advisors, and chairs the Board for Online Engineering Education, said the Palestine Writes Literature Festival was a "precursor" to the current campus environment nationwide.
“I'm glad Penn is not the only university dealing with this, and maybe it is dealing with it better because of its experience with the Palestine Writes Literature Festival," Forman said.
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