The Russell Berrie Foundation is pausing its funding to Columbia University until the institution takes strong, sustained measures to provide a safe environment that is free of hate and harassment.
“Over the past 30 years, we’ve valued the impact we and Columbia have made in providing outstanding patient care and paving the way toward a cure for diabetes,” said Angelica Berrie, President of The Russell Berrie Foundation. “It saddens me to suspend our funding, but the antisemitism, hateful protests, and bigotry that began at Columbia after October 7th – and only intensified since – defy everything my husband and this Foundation have stood for. The Russell Berrie Foundation supports free speech but not hate speech. We hope the University can move beyond this toxic chapter in its history and support students and scholars of all faiths and backgrounds in engaging in civil discourse and building bridges across differences.”
The Foundation’s giving is rooted in the values of its founder, Russell Berrie, a New Jersey business leader who cherished his Jewish heritage, promoted pluralism, and believed nothing was more important than helping others, regardless of religion, race, or identity. Since its inception, The Russell Berrie Foundation has been building bridges across faiths and investing in the strength and well-being of diverse communities.
The Russell Berrie Foundation has awarded nearly $90 million in grants over three decades to Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center and Columbia-affiliated New York Presbyterian Hospital. That funding supports humanistic care for tens of thousands of patients through the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, breakthrough research toward cures, and annual symposia drawing thousands of top physicians, scientists, and students to collaborate.
The Foundation has been proud of its relationship with Columbia University but cannot stay silent as the University fails time and again to provide a campus and classroom experience for Jewish students, faculty, and staff that is free from hate, violence, and intimidation.
On April 29, President Minouche Shafik outlined four principles at the core of the University’s work and values: keeping all community members physically safe; safeguarding academic freedom and supporting free speech that permits everyone to share their views; requiring protesters to comply with time, place, and manner restrictions; and condemning hate and protecting everyone at Columbia from harassment and discrimination. An unrelenting string of incidents since October 7th shows that the University’s leadership has failed to uphold these principles, confront antisemitism with moral clarity, and demonstrate the resolve to reverse the climate of hate and fear that Jewish members of its community must navigate.
Foundation leaders met and corresponded with University leaders several times since the fall, urging them to consistently and vigorously enforce Columbia’s policies to prevent speech and conduct that constitute harassment, and appropriately discipline those responsible when they occur. To our great dismay, the world has continued to witness support for terrorism and antisemitic speech and acts taking place across the University’s classrooms and campus. Until the Foundation sees clear, consistent evidence that Columbia’s Jewish community can live and learn in an environment free from hate and threats of violence, it cannot maintain philanthropic support of an institution that perpetuates conduct deeply antithetical to our values.