CUT OFF

Robert Kraft Says He’s Pulling Funding for Columbia Amid Pro-Palestine Protests

“I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” Kraft, a billionaire who owns the New England Patriots, said.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft suggested Monday that he will cut off financial support to his alma mater, Columbia University, amid contentious pro-Palestine protests that effectively shut down the campus Monday after the school’s president, Minouche Shafik, announced that classes would be going remote for the immediate future. “Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus,” she said, referencing complaints lodged by some Jewish students at Columbia who reported antisemitic attacks and harassment by the protesters. Kraft echoed the sentiment in a statement issued through an organization he founded called the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. “I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country,” he wrote. “I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken.”