Billionaire CEO demands UPenn leaders to quit
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Wall Street CEO Marc Rowan is calling for the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania to resign and donors to close their checkbooks over an alleged failure to condemn antisemitism and hate.

The CEO of Apollo Global Management wrote in an op-ed published online Wednesday that Penn failed to condemn an event held on campus last month that included speakers with a history of making antisemitic remarks.

Rowan wrote that those in positions of authority should respond to hate and violence with clear, rational condemnations rooted in morality.

As one of the university’s wealthiest donors and supporters, Rowan’s fortune is estimated at nearly $6 billion by Forbes. A prominent business leader has criticized an Ivy League school over its handling of anti-Semitism following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.

University of Pennsylvania leaders said they were “devastated” by Hamas’ attack on Israel.

UPenn President Elizabeth Magill and UPenn Provost John Jackson, Jr., said in their statement that “these abhorrent attacks have resulted in tragic deaths and escalating violence in the region.”

Nonetheless, he says that UPenn leaders failed to condemn the “hate-filled” Palestine Writes Literature Festival, which took place on campus last month.

UPenn alumni and supporters who believe the university is headed in the wrong direction were urged to “Close Their Checkbooks” until Magill and Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok stepped down by the Apollo CEO, who is also a parent of UPenn graduates.