Ron DeSantis supporter Ken Griffin has gifted $300 million to Harvard’s college of arts and sciences.
Billionaire hedge fund CEO and Republican megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 donated $300 million to Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the University announced Tuesday morning.
Harvard will rename the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after Griffin, who has now given more than half a billion dollars to the University.
“Generosity and loyalty are among the defining characteristics of our alumni,” Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow and FAS Dean and President-elect Claudine Gay wrote in an announcement Tuesday morning, adding that they are “deeply grateful” for Griffin’s “continued confidence and steadfast engagement.”
The gift comes as GSAS is celebrating its 150th anniversary during the 2022-23 academic year.
This latest gift brings Griffin’s total giving to his alma mater up to $500 million. In the abstract, giving back your alma mater, and one of the greatest universities in the country, is among the most conservative things you can do. However, Harvard is now almost completely subordinated to the Left. And it is also one of the least needy institutions on the planet. Our tax system allows universities greater financial freedom than any medieval kingdom could grant its monasteries. On a balance sheet, Harvard is an enormous hedge fund to which is attached a tiny legacy interest in higher education. It’s growth in expenses — mostly in funding a kudzu-like administrative class that grows at a faster rate than its faculty and student populations combined — is always exceeded by its growth in revenue.
Frankly, I don’t understand this type of giving — to institutions that doubtless have greater financial endowments and privileges than oneself and many of whose actions are opposed to one’s convictions. Such a gift would only be worthwhile if it came with greater restraints on Harvard’s progressive consolidation. But, given that Harvard is in no need for resources, even from Ken Griffin, how could such restraints be effective?