Billionaire Ronald Lauder becomes the latest high-profile UPenn donor to threaten to cut off donations if school doesn't do more to fight antisemitism, as cosmetics heir expresses outrage over Palestinian literature festival

Ronald Lauder, the billionaire heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, has told University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill that he will 're-examine' his financial support of the school over its lackluster response to antisemitism on campus.

In a Monday letter, Lauder condemned the Ivy League university's decision to host the 'Palestine Writes Literature Festival' last month, which featured several speakers whom he says publicly hold and promote anti-Semitic and anti-Israel positions.

The magnate and key donor to the Lauder Institute at Penn referenced a meeting he'd had with President Magill in the weeks leading up the 'festival,' in which he asked her to cancel the event.

'I told you that those invited to the event had a history of not just strong anti-Israel bias, but outright antisemitism. You were already aware of much of this,' he wrote, adding that he told her he was concerned the event would 'tarnish' the school's image.

'I now know that the conference has put a deep stain on Penn’s reputation that will take a long time to repair.'

Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune, has threatened to pull funding from the University of Pennsylvania over its handling of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival

The letter went on to say that, as things have turned out, 'the timing of the event could not possibly have been worse,' referring to the Palestinian terror attacks on Israel.

'Today, Israel is fighting for its life and in many ways, Jewish people throughout the diaspora are worried for their safety,' he wrote.

At the Palestine Writes festival, which was held in the days leading up to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kipper - the holiest day in the Jewish calendar - featured guests included Aya Ghanameh, who has called for 'Death to Israel,' Randa Abdel-Fattag, who has called Israel a 'demonic, sick project' and said that she 'can't wait for the day we commemorate its end.'

Susan Abulhawa, the primary organizer of the festival, has a lengthy history of anti-Semitism. She recently tweeted that Israel is 'worse than Nazis' and that she 'takes comfort in knowing' the country will some day be 'wiped off the map.'

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, a world-famous anti-Semite, also participated in the conference virtually. Former CNN commentator and general proponent of far-Left ideology Marc Lamont Hill was also there. 

Hill was fired from CNN after giving a speech, in which he gave a speech calling to 'free Palestine from the river to the sea' - a chant popularized by anti-Semites.

Lauder pointed out that the conference had been organized almost exclusively by Penn staff from the Department of Arts and Science, run by Dean Steven Fluharty.

'Let me be as clear as I can: I do not want any of the students at The Lauder Institute, the best and brightest at your university, to be taught by any of the instructors who were involved or supported this event. In my mind, they put their bias against Israel ahead of any academic honesty. We know who they are and what they said,' wrote Lauder.

The Lauder Institute is a specializes international studies program run in part through Penn's Wharton school of business.

Lauder specified that he does not want any students of the Lauder Institute learning from the professors who advocated for and organized the festival

Lauder said he had previously visited Amy Magill to attempt to dissuade her from allowing the festival to take place at Penn. Pictured here are speakers at the Palestine Writes Literature Festival hosted at Penn in late September

Attendees of the Palestine Writes festival held at Penn last month on the day Yom Kippur started

Unlike some of his mega-donor peers, Lauder has not yet officially halted donations to his alma mater. He did, however, emphasize his concern regarding the shrinking number of Jews on Penn's campus. Penn has historically been a school understood to have a strong Jewish community and alumni network.

His letter arrived in the wake of a handful of powerful Penn alumni pulling financial support for the school what they view as an inadequate response to the Hamas terror attack and the response of some student groups on campus.

One day prior, US diplomat and former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman - whose family has also historically funded the Hunstman international studies program at Wharton - announced that his family will no longer donate to the school.

Days before that, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan also closed his checkbook to Penn and wrote a letter in which he demanded President Magill resign from her post, given her delayed willingness to condemn Hamas. He also encouraged other alumni to 'close their checkbooks' until a leadership change is made.

Following several alumni publicly pulling funding from the school, Magill issued a statement responding to Lauder's concerns about the Palestine Writes festival.

'While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community,' wrote Sunday. 'The University did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views.'

'I want to leave no doubt about where I stand. I, and this University, are horrified by and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians.'

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan has called on those donating to the University of Pennsylvania to pull their funding or send just $1 in protest

David Magerman's statement disavowing the school and declaring he will never donate another dollar

Former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who graduated from Penn in 1987, has also blasted the university, and vowed to halt his families' donations

His father, Huntsman Sr, donated $50million to the school prior to his death in 2018. Jon said the foundation will now 'close its checkbook'

For some, Magill's statement was too little, too late. 

David Magerman, who helped build the trading systems of Renaissance Technologies, excoriated his alma mater, saying that he was pulling funding permanently from the institution.

'I am deeply ashamed of my association with the University of Pennsylvania,' he said. 'I refuse to donate another dollar to Penn.'

'There is no action anyone at Penn can take to change that. You have shown me who you are, my only remaining hope is that all self-respecting Jews, and all moral citizens of the world, dissociate themselves from Penn.'

Adding an extra gut punch, Magerman wrote to Magill: 'Marc Rowan has called for your firing as a response to your failures in leadership, but I feel your firing is unnecessary, because it is wholly inadequate. If in fact the University of Pennsylvania as an institution has such a misguided moral compass that it can fail to recognize evil when it is staring us all in the face, I don't think replacing you will accomplish anything.'

'Frankly, I don't think there is anything anyone can do to redeem the school, short of rebuilding its moral foundations from the ground up.'

Jonathon Jacobson of Highsage Ventures made good on Rowan's suggestion that alumni pull donations or give $1 to the university in protest of its failure to act. 

He called the college 'virtually unrecognizable.'

Jacobson and his wife have been major donors, giving tens of millions to UPenn over the years, establishing academic scholarships and taking the lead on helping rebuild the school's basketball program.

'There has been a litany of issues over the last several years where the administration has shown no leadership, moral courage or an ability to distinguish between what is clearly right and clearly wrong,' he said, recommending that Magill 'walk through the US Holocaust Museum or Yad Vashem (in Israel).'

Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee triggered fury last week by saying Israel was 'entirely responsible for all unfolding violence' despite Hamas killing women and children

Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife Batia have stepped down from an executive board at Harvard after previously donating $20million to the school

The Wexner Foundation pulled their support from Harvard entirely, after donating at least $56million over the course of 30 years

The Penn alumni who have publicly divested from the university over its handling of the Palestine Writes festival and the subsequent response to the terror attacks in Israel, join the ranks of a number of mega-donors to Harvard University who are feeling much the same way about their institution.

In the latest blow to arguably the world's most elite university, Les Wexner's Foundation pull their support from the school entirely, after donating at least $56million over the course of 30 years.

In a statement, the foundation said they are 'stunned and sickened' at Harvard's failure to take a 'clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians.'

Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife Batia have also  stepped down from an executive board at Harvard after previously donating $20million to the school.

Unfortunately, our faith in the University's leadership has been broken and we cannot in good faith continue to support Harvard and its committees,' the couple said in a statement.

'We denounce those who seek to place blame on the people of Israel for the atrocities committed by the terrorist organization, Hamas.'

The backlash came after 34 Harvard student groups signed up to a letter that blamed Israel for Hamas' massacre of Jewish people.

It said: 'We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.'