Campus protests are usually not directed at any one person. But last week at the University of Pennsylvania, professors held a rally targeting New York private equity billionaire Mark Rowan.
An alumnus of Penn and a major donor to the university, Mr. Rowan used his powerful resources to launch a ruthless campaign against Penn President M. Elizabeth Magill, leading to her resignation in December.
But what happened next sparked protests. Rowan sent a four-page email to the university’s board of trustees titled “Moving Forward,” which many professors interpreted as a blueprint for a more conservative campus.
Amy C. Offner, a history professor who led the protest, called the document a “hostile takeover of the university’s core academic functions.”
The protest of about 100 people showed that discord on campus may continue despite Ms. Magill’s resignation, and that many members of the Penn community hope it will quell anger over her testimony at a congressional hearing. There seems to be ambiguity on whether students are willing to resign. If they called for the genocide of the Jews, they would be subject to disciplinary action.
Instead, Penn, now led by interim president Dr. Larry Jameson, faces a group of alumni, donors and students who believe the university has been taken over by a liberal orthodoxy that tolerates and even promotes anti-Semitism.
Payne is now under attack from many fronts. It is a defendant in a lawsuit brought by Jewish students, funded in part by unnamed donors, and is the subject of a congressional investigation with subpoena power. State Republican lawmakers have threatened to withhold $31 million from the veterinary medicine program, the only state grant the private university receives.
Mr. Rowan and cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder, two alumni, were among the sponsors of a reelection fundraiser for Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., that a House committee is investigating at Penn and others University Statement on Anti-Semitism.
Mr. Rowan and Mr. Lauder did not attend the fundraiser, but its organizer — New Yorker Andrew Sabin, who made a fortune in metal recycling — said sponsors were opposed to anti-Semitism doctrine and hopes to pressure Congress to take action. Eliminate federal funding and the tax-exempt status of some colleges.
Another investigation by the House Ways and Means Committee questions whether campus anti-Semitism jeopardizes the nonprofit status of Penn as well as Cornell University, Harvard University and MIT
“We have a very, very positive path forward,” said Mr. Sabin, who did not attend the University of Pennsylvania.
Some professors at the university say the attacks on Penn are part of a conservative effort launched by governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis to overhaul American higher education – an effort that It has now spread to dozens of universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and Columbia University. is currently under federal investigation for reports of anti-Semitism.
“This is an anti-democratic attack, not just at Penn, but across the country, including at public universities in Florida, Texas, Ohio and beyond,” said Dr. Ofner, president of the American Universities chapter. Association of University Professors, a professional organization of teachers.
She said Penn has become “ground zero for a nationally coordinated attack on higher education, organized by billionaires, lobbying groups and politicians who want to control what can be learned and taught in America.”
On Wednesday, two days after a fundraiser that raised about $60,000 for her campaign, Ms. Fox submitted a 14-page letter to the University of Pennsylvania requesting documents that may reflect the concerns of some of its donors. . The number of Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania has declined as the university enrolls more Asian, black and Latino students.
Ms. Fox’s request cited data from the Jewish organization Hillel International, which showed that the number of Jewish undergraduates at Penn had dropped to about 1,600 students in 2023, or 16.4% of the student body, compared with about 2,500 students in 2013, or 16.4% of the student body. 25% of the total. Jews make up a little over 2% of the U.S. population.
Mr. Rowan’s proposal, published in full by The Philadelphia Inquirer, raised a series of questions about the direction of the university. It asked whether some academic programs should be eliminated and whether merit and academic excellence should be the primary considerations in hiring and admissions, which many interpreted as a call to eliminate diversity considerations.
The document met with immediate backlash from faculty, more than 1,200 of whom signed a letter sent to trustees on Jan. 16. “We object to trustees, donors and other outside actors interfering with our academic policies and undermining academic freedom,” the letter said.
However, faculty members are not united in their thinking. Psychology professor Michael J. Kahana responded directly in an email to the Faculty Senate.
“Your letter specifically addressed issues with Mark Rowan, which I have researched and found to be reasonable and helpful,” wrote Dr. Kahana, who shared his email with The New York Times. Dr. Kahana recently organized a trip for Penn professors to Israeli universities as a show of solidarity with Israeli academic colleagues.
Mr. Rowan, who chairs an advisory group to the Wharton School, the prestigious business school at the University of Pennsylvania, said through a spokesman that faculty had misunderstood his intentions.
“Mark was addressing the questions, he was not trying to provide answers,” spokesman Steven Lippin said. “This is never what Mark wants. Ultimately, this is what the trustees and faculty want.”
At last week’s rally, just as Penn’s spring semester began, professors and others stood outside in freezing temperatures for nearly two hours and said they were seeking assurances from Penn’s interim president Dr. Jameson , that is, Mr. Rowan’s idea will be realized. Not to be hugged. About a dozen faculty speakers, as well as several students, said they were concerned that donors were launching an attack on Penn’s traditions of diversity, academic freedom and free speech.
So far, university administrators have not issued what professors viewed as a strong repudiation of Mr. Rowan. But in a recent question-and-answer document posted to the university’s website, Dr. Jameson, an endocrinologist who served as dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said: Reaffirmed the idea that the role of trustees is to delegate stewardship to academic leaders and faculty.
Neither Dr Jameson nor the university’s new chairman of the board, investor Ramanan Raghavendran, were available to comment for this article.
Raghavendran, who has three Penn degrees, including one from the Wharton School, was appointed after the resignation of Scott L. Bok, an ally of Ms. Magill. Some faculty members view Mr. Raghveendran’s selection as chairman of the board of trustees as a hopeful sign, citing Mr. Raghveendran’s support of Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he served on the advisory board .
Harlan Kukuk, Ph.D., associate professor of history and sociology of science, said professors are likely to engage in more activism. The professor’s organization, AAUP, says membership is growing on Penn’s campus.
Dr. Kukuk recently resigned as director of the university’s Middle East Center in protest of the university’s attempts to block the screening of a film critical of Israel.
“There’s a window of time to get things right,” he said, “and I don’t think that’s a year from now.”