The protests at Columbia University received national coverage, led to Congressional hearings, and led to the arrest of more than 100 students. This week, Robert K. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and one of the school's most famous and wealthiest alumni, entered the fray.
Mr. Kraft, who graduated from Columbia University in 1963 and has donated millions of dollars to the university, will continue to hold the school until it takes action to curb hate speech directed at some students and staff. He said he plans to stop donating to.
“I no longer have confidence in Columbia University's ability to protect its students and employees, and I am unwilling to stand by the university until corrective action is taken,” Craft said. statement on monday.
This month, the Upper Manhattan campus has been roiled by protests, with students arrested after refusing to leave pro-Palestinian camps, and crowds of protesters harassing Jewish students outside the school gates. At times, they shouted anti-Semitic remarks.
Mr. Kraft's efforts to combat anti-Semitism have become increasingly public in recent years, well before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the war in Gaza. In 2019, alarmed by attacks on Jews and synagogues in Poway, Calif., Pittsburgh and other cities, Kraft founded the nonprofit Combating Anti-Semitism, which seeks to combat the proliferation of violent language on social media. Foundation was established.
The foundation is in the midst of a $25 million television campaign that includes advertising during this year's Academy Awards ceremony, which will be aired on ABC. Similar ads were run during the NFL season and during the Super Bowl.
“This is not a two- or three-year problem. This is a problem that's been going on for thousands of years,” Kraft said in December, sitting in his foundation office down the hall from his office in the Patriots complex. said in an interview.
Many of the ads include reenactments of anti-Semitic attacks and messages that Jews and non-Jews must help each other fight back.
The one-minute ad that ran during the Academy Awards ceremony was based on an incident in Massachusetts. It started with a 13-year-old boy trying to read the Torah at his bar mitzvah. Statistics will flash on the screen. “Last year, 895 Jewish temples received bomb threats. This is one of those stories.”
A group of Christians gathered across the street see a police signal and invite the congregation to finish the ceremony at the church. When the boy resumes his reading of the Torah, another message appears: “When we unite, hate loses.”
The foundation's mission is to systematically track hate speech and use the results to motivate people of all backgrounds to combat anti-Semitic behavior, especially when it comes to online misinformation. The effort has sharply increased in recent months as criticism of Israel's military actions in Gaza has sparked heated debate and, in some cases, led to anti-Semitic rhetoric.
At the foundation's headquarters, computers monitor in real time keywords, phrases, and hashtags on up to 300 million publicly available sources, including social media sites such as X, Instagram, and TikTok, blogs, online forums, and websites. I am.
He has hosted “meetings” of sports leaders, including Jewish athletes like former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman. Mr. Kraft was instrumental in convening commissioners from major U.S. sports leagues at NFL headquarters in Manhattan in late January.
University presidents, politicians and executives have turned to him for advice, including Kanye, who last year accused the sneaker giant of condoning inflammatory statements targeting Jews and disparaging Black Lives Matter. That includes the chief executive of Adidas, who severed ties with West. Mr. Kraft worked with Adidas to sell the remaining apparel and sneakers designed by Mr. West, with a plan to donate a portion of the profits to organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League.
One friend Mr. Kraft hasn't spoken to lately is former President Donald J. Trump. Although the two have been friends for decades, the language Trump used on the campaign trail appears to be at odds with the mission of Kraft's foundation.
In recent months, Mr. Kraft has sought to strengthen bridges between the Jewish and black communities. Advertisements the foundation ran during the Super Bowl include a speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr. and the nonprofit organization Spill the Honey, which highlights the long-standing alliance between African Americans and Jews. Dr. Clarence Jones, chairman of the Foundation, appeared.
In March, Mr. Kraft and Dr. Jones shared the stage at 92NY in New York to discuss ways the two foundations could work together.
“The intensity and dedication of the Jewish people can be expressed in simple, practical terms,” Dr. Jones said. “Without the allies and support of the Jewish community, there would have been no Civil Rights Act of 1964 and no Voting Rights Act of 1965. Neither of those would have happened. So I'm not going to sit on the sidelines. .”