Patriots Owner Robert Kraft is pulling funding from Columbia University over the treatment of Jewish students and faculty during pro-Palestinian protests on campus this week.
“It was through the full academic scholarship Columbia gave me that I was able to attend college and get my start in life and for that I have been tremendously grateful. However, the school I love so much – the one that welcomed me and provided me with so much opportunity – is no longer an institution I recognize. I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country. 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,” Kraft wrote on X.
As per Politico, Kraft helped fund the $11.5 million Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life in 2000 with a $3 million donation and has donated millions more since. He joins Leon Cooperman, a hedge fund founder and fellow Columbia graduate, who halted contributions after the Gaza war broke out in October.
Kraft has been a vocal supporter of Israel and combat against antisemitism for decades. His philanthropic Foundation to Combat Antisemitism has donated millions to organizations that counter anti-Israel propaganda and the delegitimization of the Jewish State. In this year; s Super Bowl, the foundation ran a $7 billion “stop the hate campaign” advertisement featuring Civil Rights icon Dr. Clarence Jones, who helped draft Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.
The Jewish billionaire donor’s decision puts even more pressure on Columbia University’s president, who is already facing calls from members of Congress to resign over her handling of the weeklong antisemitic protests.
