WASHINGTON (TND) — Several elite universities received donations from a foundation in the “State of Palestine" between 2017 and 2023, amounting to tens of millions of dollars, according to new findings from watchdog organization OpenTheBooks.
The schools which received donations include Brown University, Harvard University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), according to OpenTheBooks. Brown in 2020 allegedly received $643,000 from a foundation based in the “State of Palestine” to establish a “Professorship in Palestinian Studies within Middle East Studies.” The individual selected for this role also serves as the head of Birzeit University in the West Bank, according to OpenTheBooks.
Birzeit’s Union of Professors and Employees described Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel as something that “will be recorded historically as the year that Palestinians stood boldly in the face of colonial fascism and screamed in defense of their homes, humanity, and lives," according to the report.
Harvard allegedly received $1.6 million from the “State of Palestine,” though watchdogs could not determine how the funds were used. The school was recently accused of permitting rampant antisemitism, which because a contributing factor in the resignation of former university President Claudine Gay.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania allegedly received $6.4 million from the “State of Palestine.” It also received about $900K from “Palestinian Territory, Occupied," according to OpenTheBooks. Contracts between the university and these groups allegedly surrounded “payment of tuition and fees for students from Palestine.”
“As graduations are cancelled, Jewish students are threatened, and campuses are trashed with ‘encampments’ across the country, it is painfully clear that the American taxpayer is getting shortchanged,” OpenTheBooks wrote of its findings.READ MORE | Biden education czar dodges questions on loan relief for anti-Israel student protesters
Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO and founder of OpenTheBooks, told The National Desk (TND) "these foreign gifts and partnerships are one more way that taxpayer-funded institutions do damage to the social fabric."
"After the unrest at our universities, taxpayers deserve to have accountability after Ivy League institutions taught radical ideologies funded by entities based in the nonexistent 'Sate of Palestine,'" Andrzejewski said.Neither the U.S. government nor the U.N. recognize Palestine as a country, according to Reuters.
When reached for comment, an IUP spokesperson told TND the school "has received instructional agreement income for providing educational programs at various international locations, including one in Palestine, since 2014."
A spokesperson for Brown told TND the school received "a gift of $643,000 in 2020 form a donor located in the Palestinian Territories," noting the donation can be seen in the Education Department's College Foreign Gift Reporting portal.
"This was from a philanthropic foundation in support of a professorship in our Middle East Studies program," the Brown spokesperson said.
TND reached out to each of the above schools for comment. This story will be updated as responses are received.
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