Hedge fund tycoon Clifford Asness has joined the exodus of deep-pocketed donors from the University of Pennsylvania over a pro-Palestinian literary conference the Ivy League school hosted last month, which he described as an “antisemitic Burning Man fest.”
Asness — who as the founder of AQR Capital Management has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes — penned a scathing letter to the president of his alma mater, Elizabeth Magill, for hosting a Palestine Writers Literature Festival featuring a lineup of speakers critical of Israel to celebrate Palestinian culture.
“I’m 100% for free speech but not asymmetrical free speech where some have it and some don’t. Imagine Penn’s action if that event was as anti- anyone else other than Jews!? Hiding behind ‘free speech’ when it is a right only embraced for antisemites and other fellow travelers is not ok,” Asness wrote in a letter to Magill that was shared to X.
The 57-year-old hedge fund manager continued: “I’ve recently finished a large five-year pledge to Penn and will not be considering another until such meaningful change is evident.”
“I do not like making something like this about money — but it appears to be one of the only path that has any hope of mattering, and it has become clear that is the only voice some of us have,” added Asness in the note dated Monday.
It’s unclear how much Asness has donated to UPenn since he graduated summa cum laude — meaning he had a GPA between 3.9 and 4.0 — in 1988.
Ahead of the literature fest, Magill responded to outrage in a letter co-authored with other university heads saying that the school did not organize the event, and supporting “the free exchange of ideas,” including “the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values.”
After the event concluded on Sept. 24, Magill issued a statement making clear that she and UPenn “stand, emphatically against the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel,” and admitted that “we should have communicated faster and more broadly about where we stand.”
Asness denounced the responses as “giving direct succor to evil” for not using “the word terrorism for the actions of Hamas” from the get-go.
“Furthermore, for the young people on campus whom you are charged with educating and growing, such a statement at best educates them in cowardice, in worst in evil,” he added.
However, Asness believes the “unacceptable” problems going on at UPenn “began well before the recent horrors.”
“I have long been dismayed at the drift away from true freedom of thought, expression, and speech at our best universities, very much including my beloved alma mater Penn,” he wrote.
“Then, a few weeks ago, Penn’s hosting an antisemitic Burning Man festival pushed matters further,” Asness said before dishing out his highly critical opinion of Magill’s lackluster “clean up” note, which the hedge fund tycoon said “has increasingly little power in these times of scripted internet apologies.”
Representatives for Asness at AQR Capital Management did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The pro-Palestinian event — which took place at various sites on UPenn’s campus from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24 — boasted a lineup that included Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, who wore a Nazi-style uniform during a concert in Berlin in May and was accused by Israel of “desecrating the memory of Anne Frank” by projecting the girl’s name during the concert.
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Illustrator and Palestinian author Aya Ghanameh, who has tweeted “Death to Israel” on various occasions, and Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah — who has called Israel a “demonic, sick project” and added that she “can’t wait for the day we commemorate its end” — were also invited to the fest.
When The Post sought comment from UPenn on Asness’ comments, a university spokesperson cited Magill’s two statements on the Palestine Writers Literature Festival.
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The spokesperson also pointed to two letters featured in the Daily Pennsylvanian that supported the pro-Palestinian event. One was signed by 36 UPenn faculty members and criticized Magill for giving “the impression that the entire festival could be seen as hosting views ‘incompatible with our institutional values’” in her Sept. 12 response.
The other was penned by Jewish members of the UPenn community, who wrote to “express enthusiasm” for the festival.
Asness wasn’t the only donor to halt funding to UPenn following the controversy surrounding the pro-Palestinian event.
David Magerman, a fellow UPenn alumnus who helped build the quant hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, also slammed the school over its “misguided moral compass,” and said he will “refuse to donate another dollar to Penn” in a letter to Magill that board chair Scott Bok posted to X.
“Over the past month, I have been deeply embarrassed by my association with and support for the University of Pennsylvania,” he wrote in the letter Monday.
“The leadership of the university has failed to demonstrate the values I expect from an institution that purports to educate young adults and prepare them for a lifetime of leadership and to be emissaries for good in the world.”
