Another day, another statement by Bill Ackman (parent Horace Mann, NY; alum parent Dalton, NY). When Ackman is busy crying crocodile tears about industries tanking as he shorts them or hosting Zelensky to build Ukraine back better, it always seems to be the same story. Ackman, Ron Perelman (The Haverford School, PA), Les Wexner (alum parent Columbus Academy, OH), Clifford Asness (alum parent Greenwich Academy, CT; Greenwhich Country Day School, CT), Marc Rowan (parent Riverdale Country School, NY), Ken Griffin (alum parent Ransom Everglades, FL; Gulliver Prep, FL), and every other billionaire calling for boycotts on donations to elite universities: Just stop. We’re not idiots, and neither are you.
“Fools,” Said I, “You Do Not Know”
It’s as effective as Iran being appointed Chair of the UN Human Rights Council social forum. The feigned outrage to boycott donations to elite universities is fairly hollow for several reasons: (1) Exorbitant endowments earn enough on their own and are not taxed; (2) Foreign donations streaming in from the likes of Qatar and China make $5M and $50M from US titans inconsequential; (3) It reinforces the ideology that the “colonizers” have all the money and influence; and (4) The ideological foundation is already formed at NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) Schools. In contrast, while NAIS Schools also have untaxed endowments and foreign dollars streaming in (Independent X Schools increasingly cater to international families with tacit admissions pipelines), the figures remain at a scale where $5M and $50M donations are still disproportionately influential.
A Vision Softly Creeping
The outcry about Israel-Palestine dwarfs any minimal discussion that surrounded the Darfuri, Rohingas, Uyghurs, or Armenians because it fits into the racial Marxist narrative, which is much easier to demagogue. It’s essentially about the perception of who has all the money (America, whites, Jews and others “white adjacent”) and who wants it (everyone else). It’s the age-old Marxist struggle of greed and envy – the same Marxist struggle that sees Independent X Headmasters making lateral moves (People primarily make lateral career moves for better compensation). This Marxist narrative is indoctrinated through critical theory.
With post-Covid outrage, articles of first-graders being taught about masturbation, and talking heads praising/demonizing the “Parents’ Rights Movement,” we all know critical theory starts in grade school. Our Substacks have detailed how Independent X Schools have been at the forefront of baking in critical theory curriculum for decades. NAIS made sure of that. Anti-Semitism is a core element of critical theory in NAIS Schools, despite or perhaps on account of the high Jewish population in elite education.
Left Its Seeds While I Was Sleeping
Even second gentleman Doug Emhoff recognizes the “crisis of anti-semitism” at K-12 schools. Emhoff’s daughter Ella (Wildwood, CA) certainly learned to disavow her Judaism and advocate for Palestinians before Parsons. David Mamet (Francis Parker, IL) recently stated: “When your kids come home from college, don’t send them back. Stop funding Anti-Semitic hatred…because for a Jew to send his or her son or daughter to these elite institutions because they’re going to make connections is the same thing as putting your daughter in a brothel because they’re going to meet powerful men there.” Mamet may never have received butt plugs at Francis Parker, but surely as an alum from pioneering Chicago NAIS Schools (graduating Marxist America haters like Ayanna Pressley, trans funding Pritzkers, actual domestic terrorist Bill Ayers) and a resident of the Socialist State of Santa Monica he should understand the nexus of critical theory with elite NAIS Schools. Anti-Semitic speakers, 1619 Project, UN Sustainability Development Goals, the real colonizer is NAIS. Until Independent X Schools disassociate from NAIS, it’s all just a circle jerk.
People Talking Without Speaking
Why then, when Leon Black hails from Ethical Culture Fieldston (NY) which promotes antisemitic instruction, Marc Rowan calls for donation boycotts to Penn while touting his board seat at the wokest Riverdale Country Schools, and Ken Griffin donates $5M to Gulliver Prep to secure spaces for Citadel families, have none of these titans made public statements about Independent X School? Ackman wrote 3,138 words in only one of his statements and never called for the resignation of Harvard President Claudia Gay or mentioned any NAIS Schools. Where is fellow Jewish Harvard Board Chair Penny Pritzker (Castilleja, CA)? Or will the call to boycott donations to higher ed simply result in an increase in donations to Independent X School? NAIS is counting on it.
People Hearing Without Listening
NAIS views all of us who pay tuition for “private fancy schools,” as transgender Covenant School (TN) shooter describes Independent X School, as capitalist white privileged oppressors. NAIS exploits Independent X Parents’ desire for prestige and conformity to cloud our ability to see its aim to redistribute our wealth through Independent X School to unnecessary programming and superfluous consultants with made-up degrees. How else can you explain Spence’s claim of a $22,600 per student funding gap above the already $60K+ tuition when its Board Chair is a Goldman partner?
Still, we are to blame for making the generous donations that enabled NAIS to institute Marxism into our Independent X Schools. It is only due to donations from all of us, and particularly the most generous of us, that elite educational institutions have been enabled to run a-woke-mok. Only one NAIS Headmaster has recently been booted purportedly as a repudiation of excessive DEI. (Ironically, this occurred at Penny Pritzker’s alma mater Castilleja. But as the fight against affirmative action in universities came primarily from Bay Area Asians, the 50% Asian make up of Castilleja’s Board is certainly interesting.) Simultaneously, annual giving grows and capital campaigns soar: $89M for a dining hall at Deerfield (MA) and $40M for sports fields and tennis courts at Harvard-Westlake (CA). As the individuals with the most influence at Independent X School, large donors and trustees must step up to stop the insanity. We all know how boards are supposed to work. Do not let NAIS dupe you into believing you are supposed to remain 30,000 feet above Independent X School because that’s the “culture.”
No One Dared Disturb The Sound Of Silence
But while the silence on Independent X Schools is deafening, when it comes to well-known universities, the hedge fund managers doth protest too much, methinks. It’s rather convenient the most celebrated capitalists are now speaking out about DEI only after it has been baked into the system and after they already instituted ESG. (Recall ESG is simply rebranded DEI. Einhorn is Finkle. Finkle is Einhorn.) Oh, look – impending SEC regulations replacing ESG! The apples are baked into the pie. Strange how we learned about every Green New Deal ESG issue decades ago in Independent X School. Maybe it really is just about AUM. Independent X Schools have endowments to be managed and remain under the radar. Then again, so do sovereign wealth funds. Guess we’ll have to leave that to all the Albright Stonebridge Group grads (Victoria Newland – Choate, CT) and the private school buddies (Antony Blinken – Dalton, NY, École Jeannine Manuel, FR; Robert Malley – École Jeannine Manuel, FR) running the country.
Hear My Words That I Might Teach You
So, will you really keep funding West Bank settlements but fail to demand the resignation of Penn’s president as your nephew sits on the board? Will you continue to sit inert on Penn’s board and Trinity’s (NY), too? Will you stay silent as your own daughter is taught her former IDF Lieutenant mom is a colonizer? The naïve can applaud your statements. We are not them. Ron, William, Bill, and the rest, show us you’re not crying crocodile tears. It’s endowment review and planning period. Strike now and publicly call to boycott donations to Independent X School. Demand an end to critical theory at NAIS Schools and demand and end to NAIS. Save Independent X School!
Shits & Giggles
I’ve Come To Talk With You Again
Stay tuned for our next Substack diving into the anti-Semitic world of NAIS Schools. From SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) curriculum to frequent NAIS presenter Nation of Islam follower Gholdy Muhammad…
