Warner owner defunds Harvard over genocide call
NewsIt has been made known that the UK-Russian media owner Sir Len Blavatnik has stopped donations to Harvard after its president Claudine Gay refused to outlaw calls for genocide of the Jews.
Gay has been reaffirmed in her post by Harvard’s board of governors.
Blavatnik and his family foundation have given more than $270 million to Harvard in recent years, most of it to the medical school. Blavatnik is the owner of the Warner record label.
Wondering what this has to do with ‘classical music news’, I realize that the most expensive seats in Carnegie Hall are on the Blavatnik Family First Tier.
Activity of any major donor to the arts is of interest when they do something like this. His values and perhaps the reason he funds important arts organizations, events and institutions informs current and future benefactors. It has a lot to do with reporting on the state of the arts.
Dr. Gay is perfectly fine with threats of antisemitism, violence.
So a major donor, a record label owner, withdrew their support.
I suspect more will follow, and won’t be surprised by her dismissal by late Spring.
at the moment Dr Gay is also facing serious allegations of “duplicative texts” in her scholarly work….(an euphemism for “plagiarism”). I think she has enough reasons to start worrying….
Wonder no more: “Blavatnik is the owner of the Warner record label.”
For heavens sake he owns Warner Music which has under its umbrella EMI, Erato, Teldec, Nonesuch, Virgin Classics, legendary names among many others and is the world’s largest privately owned music company. In addition he owns Warner Chappell Music, one of the world’s largest music publishers. That apart from being a very generous supporter to numerous organisations such as the Royal Opera House and Carnegie Hall. So, very much connected with music, a Harvard Business School alumnus and a wonderful guy. Let’s hope this move will make Harvard come to its senses.
You make him sound like Dr. Fauci…
Good man. May others do the same.
Well it is genocide. Harvard will find a way to go on…with dignity.
If it’s genocide how come the population of Gaza has increased by over a million in recent years. I suggest a basic course in arithmetic at Harvard may well be appropriate for you.
Money speaks, and despite Harvard’s incredible endowment ($51 BILLION), Harvard will listen. They may do it for the wrong reasons and under duress, but Harvard will buckle.
Well done.
“Defunds Harvard”
Harvard has a 55 billion dollar endowment…
“…Claudine Gay refused to outlaw calls for genocide of the Jews…”
I hope we understand that, although Harvard is an august institution, the President of Harvard has no power of law in the United States.
I suspect that if Harvard were to expel a student who made a speech or wrote an article that called for genocide they would be sued and lose on First Amendment grounds, given that Harvard accepts Federal funding and would have to adhere to First Amendment standards.
Unless you try to put it into action, calling for genocide will be constitutionally protected speech in the US.
It is astonishing that a Harvard President couldn’t clearly explain that reality in a sentence or two. Explaining things is what educators are supposed to do and she failed that test badly.
Robert, you know that is absolute bollocks.
Imagine if the people offended were black or transgender, instead of Jewish.
She and the other presidents were all lawyered up, basically prepared for a deposition, not for a hearing with a demagogue. If Dr. Gay had answered Elise Stefanik in the affirmative, Stefanik would no doubt have trotted out some anecdote (applicable or not) and asked “What did/didn’t you do in THIS case?” There was no winning in that situation.
I don’t like the reactions of a lot of Harvard students to Oct. 7, but the House hearing was a political setup (led by a NY Congresswoman with no moral authority who has defended Trump’s coup). But let him donate to a school that doesn’t have a $50 billion endowment. Maybe a HBCU like Delaware State; his $250 million would go a long way there. Or if he wants to stay in Boston – Boston University!
Good. Hit them where it hurts. Maybe Harvard can go cap in hand to Hamas protectors, Iran.
This blackmail by all these Jewish billionaire donors doesn’t exactly fend off the centuries old stereotypes……
Wow…you’re rather textbook, aren’t you?
Thanks for carrying the torch.
The major issue in my mind is that these big donors (many but not all of whom are Jewish) seem to think that when they give money to an institution (thereby reducing their taxes) is a transaction, not a GIFT. The idea of a gift, well, that it is a gift not a quid pro quo. No one has the courage to tell them OK, go ahead and give more money to Israel and to Israel supporting organization that want to label everything and everybody as anti-semitic. Lucky for them , donations for these organizations are also tax deductible. You want to know how these became tax deductible? Ask the likes of Elise Stefanik or Joseph Biden or our own senator Chuck Schumer.
Well, you’re black and a woman….. would she be a lesbian, her position would be the strongest fortress ever…. despite the outrageous statement in front of commission, despite her plagiarism in her academic production.
1984 looks like a tale for kids compared to what s going on in the USA….
Bottom of the pool, when the kick will come?….