Amid turmoil over antisemitism and a decline in donations, Harvard mulls a bond sale
Hundreds of Jewish alumni have stopped writing checks compounding other financial pressures on the university
Former Harvard President Claudine Gay attends a menorah lighting ceremony on the seventh night of Hanukkah with the university’s Jewish community on Dec. 13, 2023. Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
By Lauren Markoe February 27, 2024
As it grapples with a donor backlash over its handling of antisemitism on campus, Harvard University is considering a $1.65 billion bond sale.
With interest rates high, this is a generally poor time to sell bonds, and the sale would contribute significantly to the university’s debt. But the sale would give the university an infusion of cash. Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the potential sale or how it would use the money.
One of Harvard’s most outspoken critics on antisemitism, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, tweeted that turmoil over antisemitism isn’t the only reason Harvard is mulling the sale, which would occur over the next two months. He wrote that Harvard also failed to predict a “dramatic decline in donations.”
“I expect that alumni donations won’t be coming back for some time,” he added.
After the start of the Israel-Hamas war, billionaire Len Blavatnik and other wealthy Harvard alumni announced they would no longer give to the school in response to what they considered its failure to confront rising antisemitism on campus. More than 2,000 Jewish alumni of the elite university formed a group in November to press for a more robust response to antisemitism, with at least 240 pledging to donate only $1 to Harvard to express their disappointment.
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in January in response to accusations that she had plagiarized parts of her scholarly work. But her departure also followed her testimony about antisemitism on campus before a congressional committee in December, which even some of her supporters panned as overly lawyerly and insensitive.
Harvard has convened several task forces to grapple with antisemitism since the university erupted in protests after Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, prompting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. But several high-profile members have resigned from those committees, reportedly in frustration.
The bond sale would mean Harvard’s debt could climb to $7.85 billion, its highest point in recent history, including the 2008 financial crisis, according to The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper.
Harvard also took a financial hit from a high-profile affirmative action case decided at the Supreme Court last summer. The ruling effectively halted affirmative action in college admissions.
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