New England Patriots principal owner Robert Kraft announced that he is withholding support for his alma mater, Columbia University, in light of ongoing student protests over Israel’s role in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
On Monday, Kraft released a statement through his Foundation for Combating Antisemitism and the Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign, expressing sadness at “the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and around the country” as well as a lack of confidence in the school to protect its students.
“It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hate by ending these protests immediately and will work to earn back the respect and trust of the many of us who have lost faith in the institution,” Kraft said in the statement.
Kraft is one of Columbia’s biggest and most visible donors. While building his fortune in paper and packaging, real estate and sports, he donated millions to his alma mater to build and support the school’s Hillel, named the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life. Kraft Field—the athletic field where the Lions’ football, soccer and lacrosse teams play at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium—was renamed after he donated $5 million to its athletics department in 2007.
Kraft, who also owns the MLS’ New England Revolution, founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in October 2022 in response to a surge in antisemitism. Shortly after current Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (then of the Brooklyn Nets) was suspended by the NBA for appearing to support an anti-Semitic film, Kraft’s foundation began an ad campaign—Stand Up to Anti-Jewish Hate—to call out the rise in anti-Jewish sentiment. In the spring of 2023, the campaign was expanded through TV and online ads during the NFL draft as well as NBA and NHL playoff games.
Columbia has been at the center of heated debates and protests both on-campus and through the national media since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. New York City’s Ivy League university is far from the only school contending with the matter. However, there is a bigger spotlight on Columbia, given its lofty standing, location in the nation’s largest city and the resignation of presidents from fellow Ivy League schools Pennsylvania and Harvard after controversial congressional hearings on the topic. Some demonstrations have elevated into security concerns in recent weeks, including the latest round where protesting students have decamped on the school’s famed lawns and called for the university to divest from Israel.
During her own congressional hearing on April 17, Columbia president Nemat Shafik promised a crackdown on the protesting students, and the following day NYPD officers arrived on campus to break up the decampments. Over 100 students were arrested, eliciting praise in some circles and condemnation in others. In addition, there were rampant media reports of protesters not affiliated with the school harassing Jewish students over the weekend.
On Sunday, the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, which serves both Columbia and its neighboring women’s school Barnard College, issued a statement regarding safety for students during Passover. The schools’ public safety unit will provide escorts for students wishing to visit the center while the NYPD is providing an increased presence.
A Massachusetts native, Kraft attended Columbia on an academic scholarship but played tennis and sprint football (or lightweight football), a varsity sport in a handful of colleges where players can weigh no more than 178 pounds. Kraft graduated from Columbia in 1963 before continuing his studies at the Harvard Business School.
(This story has been updated in the fifth paragraph to correct the name of Robert Kraft’s foundation’s campaign.)
