Jewish billionaire and philanthropist Henry Swieca quit the Columbia University board of directors over what he called the Ivy League school’s “moral cowardice” for allowing a “blatantly anti-Jewish” sentiment to thrive on campus.
“To my deep regret the reputation and integrity of Columbia University, and by extension Columbia Business School, have been significantly compromised by a moral cowardice that appears beyond repair,” Swieca said in a resignation letter made public this week, Fox News reported.
“This is abhorrent,” he wrote in the scathing letter. “Any other minority group on campus would never have to face anything close to this level of intimidation and hatred of Jewish and pro-Israel students experience.”
Swieca added, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
His resignation comes amid a disturbing outburst of pro-Palestinian fervor on Ivy League campuses in the wake of the sneak attack on Israel by radical Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and the subsequent retaliation by the Jewish State in the Gaza Strip.
Billionaire and philanthropist Henry Swieca, who is Jewish, resigned from the Columbia University board over the “moral cowardice” that has let pro-Hamas sentiment make Jewis on campus feel “unsafe.” Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesColumbia has been among the most active, with pro-Hamas protests and confrontations on campus.
Late last month more than 100 Columbia professors signed a letter defending pro-Palestinian students who backed the Hamas attack on Israel, calling on administrators to stop making statements “that favor the suffering and death of Israelis or Jews over the suffering and deaths of Palestinians.”
Earlier in October, an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside the university library after questioning someone who was ripping down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas.
A massive pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University on Oct. 12 was one of several anti-Jewish events and troubling incidents at the Ivy League school’s Manhattan campus since Oct. 7. AP
Yoni Kurtz, 21, speaks on Oct. 30 at a press conference held by Jewish Columbia students denouncing the school administration for not doing enough to protect students. Stephen Yang for NY PostLast week, Columbia finally launched an antisemitism task force to deal with the “terribly resilient” unrest amid spiking anti-Israeli sentiment — a move concerned critics said was too little too late.
Swieca, 66, who founded Talpion Fund Management, received a master’s degree in business administration from the Morningside Heights university, said it raised “deep concerns” about the school.
“With blatantly anti-Jewish student groups and professors allowed to operate with complete impunity, it sends a clear and distressing message that Jews are not just unwelcome, but also unsafe on campus,” he wrote in the Oct. 30 resignation letter.
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters confronting a pro-Israeli demonstrator during a rally at Columbia University on Oct. 12. APA spokesman for the University told Fox that the school and President Minoouche Shafik are “concerned for the safety and security of all its students and community members.
“That’s why the president announced both a Task Force on Antisemitism and a Doxing Resource Group to address the acute problem of doxing playing out on our doorstep, even today,” the spokesman said.
