Donors exert pressure for pro-Israel stance in American higher education

American universities have started struggling to walk an almost impossibly narrow line: satisfying the demands of rich donors that they more clearly support Israel while also respecting protesters' rights to free expression.

Several wealthy Americans have threatened to withdraw their financial support from prestigious private schools like the Ivy League's Harvard University in Massachusetts or the University of Pennsylvania, known as UPenn.

The Wexner Foundation, which works to prepare young Jewish leaders in North America and Israel, went a step further: ending its partnership with Harvard's Kennedy School.

Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of the Citadel investment fund and one of Harvard's biggest donors, and Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics group and another UPenn donor, have also expressed their displeasure, according to American media.

Right to free speech at stake

"Leaders are criticised for not speaking out quickly or forcefully enough. They're being forced to choose sides. And yet there are many who say that given a diversity of perspectives on campus, there can't be an institutional position on such complex global issues," said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU).

She said the pressure from donors undermines the purpose of American higher education, which is "to promote the unfettered pursuit of the truth and the free exchange of ideas."

The pressure on universities also reflects flagging public investment in higher education, according to Pasquerella, making institutions more dependent on private donors and leaving professors and administrators feeling "coerced because they're afraid of losing donations."

'Feeling of fear is palpable'

At Harvard, President Claudine Gay did condemn the Hamas attacks of October 7, but her critics say her words were too timid and came too late.

Leaders of Stanford University in California and Columbia in New York have also been urged to clearly take their distance from pro-Palestinian student groups that accuse Israel, in their leaflets and at their rallies, of committing "genocide."

But a group of Harvard professors has also called for an end to the online harassment of students who supposedly signed an incendiary letter against Israel.

A vehicle driving near campus carried a large screen displaying names and photos under the title: "Harvard's leading anti-Semites."

Student protesters at Columbia have faced a similar backlash.

"What we are hearing directly is that some students on some campuses are feeling nervous to talk - nervous, perhaps, to protest," said Kristen Shahverdian, who works on education issues at PEN America, which promotes literature and free expression.

"That feeling of fear, I think, is palpable for some on campuses," she said and added donors should be "aware that freedom of expression is an integral part of higher education - and that does mean, at times, speech that one might really disagree with very strongly."