UPenn donor withdraws $100M donation after president's congressional testimony on antisemitism

Harvard President Claudine Gay, left, and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill listen during a hearing of the House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A major donor to the University of Pennsylvania is withdrawing a donation worth roughly $100 million as a protest against the college’s handling of antisemitism on campus and the controversial testimony by UPenn's president on the subject. 

Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, donated to Penn in 2017, a gift that consisted of partnership units in the firm which are now valued at around $100 million to help the university establish a financial innovation center. 

Attorneys for Stevens sent the university a letter indicating the school violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement through its failure to adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules.

The news was first reported by Axios.  

The letter said that Stevens and Stone Ridge "are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus." 

It added that Penn’s "permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge."