Donors Shouldn’t Get to Run Colleges, Ex Penn Board Chair Says After Exit

Bloomberg

Sridhar Natarajan

December 28, 2023

College donors shouldn’t get a prominent say in how those institutions function, according to the former board chair at the University of Pennsylvania, who stepped down in the wake of escalating attacks led by donors.

“I think donors are absolutely free to give to whatever organizations they want or not to, and to withhold for any reason they choose to,” Scott Bok said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “But they are not shareholders, so I don’t think they should have a particularly loud voice on how universities are run.”

Bok and UPenn President Liz Magill resigned earlier this month after battling intense pressure from donors as well as alumni and lawmakers amid a growing row over antisemitism on campus. The scrutiny escalated after Magill’s appearance before a Congressional committee alongside other US academic leaders.

Notably, Bok, who is the chief executive officer of investment bank Greenhill & Co., faced criticism from some of his peers on Wall Street — led by Apollo Management Group Inc. CEO Marc Rowan, who’d been pushing for him and Magill to step down.

The Apollo billionaire is also the head of the board of Penn’s business school and a significant donor. The Wharton alum, along with his wife Carolyn, has given $50 million to the school, led the campaign for the duo’s ouster and recommended other donors close their checkbooks until Bok and Magill stepped aside.

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