Harvard to rename school after top Republican donor Ken Griffin following $300m gift

Source: The Guardian

Harvard to rename school after top Republican donor following $300m gift

Graduate school of arts and sciences to be named in honor of Ken Griffin, 54, hedge-fund billionaire and world’s 35th richest person

Julia Carrie Wong in New York and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Tue 11 Apr 2023 22.53 BST
Last modified on Tue 11 Apr 2023 23.50 BST

Harvard University will rename its graduate school of arts and sciences after billionaire hedge fund executive and Republican megadonor Kenneth Griffin, the institution announced on Tuesday, after a new $300m contribution brought Griffin’s total support of his alma mater to more than half a billion dollars.

Griffin, 54, is the founder and chief executive of Citadel, a $59bn hedge fund, and Citadel Securities, which trades securities. He is the 35th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $34.9bn, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.

Griffin will be just the fourth individual to have a school at Harvard named after him in exchange for a donation, according to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper. His name will carry controversy thanks to Griffin’s stature as a major political donor to rightwing politicians and his company’s investments in firearm and ammunition manufacturers.

Griffin’s companies held investments in gun and ammunition manufacturers worth more than $139m as of March 2022, according to Chicago NPR affiliate WBEZ. These included shares in US gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger, as well as US ammunition makers Olin Corp, Vista Outdoor, and Ammo Inc.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/11/harvard-republican-donor-kenneth-griffin

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