Harvard, Penn Lose Major Donors After Response to Hamas Atrocities -- But ...

It remains to be seen whether major donors denying funding will have tangible effects in the long run.

Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University, is doubtful, telling The College Fix via email that Harvard and Penn do not need more money and that donors need elite colleges more than the colleges need them.

Describing many colleges today as “cesspools of hypocrisy, anti-semitism, and anti-free speech attitudes,” Zywicki added: “If what these universities have been doing for the past decade wasn’t enough to disgust them, do we really believe that this is the straw that will break the camel’s back?”

[That’s a good question, but there are other effects to donor revolts. Many of them help grease the skids for post-grad hiring as well as pressuring politicians to provide more funding for higher education. But I do feel somewhat skeptical that they will abandon these schools for the long term; they need the status and access their money buys more than the colleges need the money now. — Ed]