CEO Marc Rowan calls on UPenn leaders to resign, alums to halt donations over alleged antisemitism

A billionaire private equity firm CEO is calling on the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania to resign and for donors to “close their checkbooks” to the school over what he says is their failure to sufficiently condemn antisemitic events on campus prior to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel.

Apollo Management CEO Marc Rowan, who co-founded Apollo Global Management and received an MBA from the Wharton School, wrote in a letter sent to the school’s newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, to call for the resignation of UPenn President Liz Magill and Scott Bok, chair of the board of trustees. Rowan is the chairman of the board of advisers to the Wharton School, UPenn’s elite college of business, and in 2018 he and his wife gave the business school $50 million.

Rowan took issue with a Palestinian literature festival held on UPenn’s campus Sept. 22-24 and featured several alleged antisemitic speakers, writing: “It took less than two weeks to go from the Palestine Writes literary festival on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus to the barbaric slaughter and kidnapping of Israelis. 

“The polarizing Palestine Writes gathering featured well-known antisemites and fomenters of hate and racism, and it was underwritten, supported and hosted by various UPenn academic departments and affiliates.”

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Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management LLC, called for the resignation of UPenn’s president over alleged antisemitism on campus. (Bess Adler/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“At a gathering supposedly focused on Palestinian arts, culture and poetry, the presenters focused on Jews, Israel and Zionism,” Rowan wrote, adding that one speaker “advocated ethnic cleansing” while another “defended the necessity and propriety of substantial violence” and others “repeated various blood libels against Jews.”

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“It was a tragically prescient preview of the horrific events that took place just two weeks later,” Rowan wrote. “UPenn President Elizabeth Magill’s allowance of the university’s imprimatur to be associated with this conference and her failure to condemn this hate-filled call for ethnic cleansing normalized and legitimized violence that ranged from the targeting of Jewish students and spaces here to the horrific attacks in Israel.”

Rowan noted he and 4,000 others signed an open letter to President Magill expressing concern about the Palestine Writes festival and said that “is just the tip of the iceberg” and that, “Ultimately, it is about changing a culture that allowed this to take place.”

Israelis mourn Ili Bar Sade, a soldier who was killed in an attack by Hamas militants, at his funeral in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 9, 2023.  (REUTERS/Hadas Parush / Reuters Photos)

“At this watershed moment in UPenn’s history, I call on all UPenn alumni and supporters who believe we are heading in the wrong direction to ‘close their checkbooks’ until President Magill and Chairman Bok resign. It is time for the trustees to begin moving UPenn in a new direction,” he wrote. “Join me and many others who love UPenn by sending the university $1 in place of your normal discretionary contribution, so that no one misses the point.”

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UPenn issued a statement on the Palestine Writes festival signed by Magill and Provost John Jackson Jr. prior to the event Sept. 12 that called it a “public event” that isn’t organized by the university. 

“While the Festival will feature more than 100 speakers, many have raised deep concerns about several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people,” they wrote. 

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia  (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Prior to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival amid the controversy, Magill met with the Anti-Defamation League and published a letter Sept. 20 outlining the steps the university would take to combat antisemitism. It also noted that university leaders met with UPenn’s School of Arts and Sciences and student leaders to raise their concerns and to clarify with the department’s leadership that students aren’t required to attend the festival.

Following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, Magill and Jackson wrote, “We are devastated by the horrific assault on Israel by Hamas that targeted civilians and the taking of hostages over the weekend. These abhorrent attacks have resulted in the tragic loss of life and escalating violence and unrest in the region. Many members of our community are hurting right now. Our thoughts are especially with those grieving the loss of loved ones or facing grave uncertainty about the safety of their families and friends.”

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Julie Platt, vice chair for Penn’s board of trustees, wrote in a statement, “The University has publicly committed to unprecedented steps to further combat antisemitism on its campus, reaffirmed deep support for our Jewish community, and condemned the devastating and barbaric attacks on Israel by Hamas.”

FOX Business’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.