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Fourteen Endowed Chairs Funded by Jewish Donors Are Held by Faculty on the Record Against Israel — Here Are Their Names
Israeli Real Economy

Fourteen Endowed Chairs Funded by Jewish Donors Are Held by Faculty on the Record Against Israel — Here Are Their Names

The Olam Editorial Team
The Olam Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Aug 14, 2026

Fourteen endowed professorships funded by Jewish philanthropists to strengthen Jewish scholarship are held by faculty publicly on the record against Israel. Names, donors, petitions, institutional leaders.

OLAM RESEARCH · THE FACULTY AUDIT

Jewish philanthropists funded fourteen endowed professorships to strengthen Jewish scholarship in America. Every one of those chairs is now held by a faculty member publicly on the record against Israel. In thirteen of fourteen cases, the donor's money is still in place.

An endowed chair is the most senior appointment in academic life. It is permanent. It carries the donor's name in perpetuity. It signals that a university has made a lasting commitment to the field that chair represents.

Olam's national faculty database — 2,499 records across 313 U.S. universities, cross-checked against nine anti-Israel petition campaigns — identified fourteen endowed chairs funded by Jewish donors and held by faculty who have signed public petitions characterizing Israel as apartheid, settler-colonial, or genocidal.

This is who holds those seats — and what they signed.

Yinon Cohen Signed Four Petitions From Columbia's Yerushalmi Chair — More Than Any Other on This List

Yinon Cohen is an Israeli sociologist who holds the Yerushalmi Chair of Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. His search committee included Rashid Khalidi and Lila Abu-Lughod. Cohen signed four separate anti-Israel petitions — the May 2021 Jewish Studies declaration, an AcademicsForPeace petition, the JS Ceasefire Letter, and "Not in Our Name." That is more petitions than any other endowed chair holder on this list.

Columbia has 41 faculty on the record against Israel and 77 documented faculty boycotters per AMCHA's Barometer — the highest count of any university in the database.

Raz Segal Called October 7 "Textbook Genocide" — Then Collected $250,000 From the University of Minnesota

Raz Segal holds an endowed professorship in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University. Six days after October 7, 2023, Segal published an essay in Jewish Currents titled "A Textbook Case of Genocide." The University of Minnesota had offered Segal a directorship; it rescinded the offer after the article. In August 2026, Minnesota paid Segal $250,000 to settle the resulting dispute — the most recent data point in this study.

Liora Halperin's Signature Cost the University of Washington $5 Million — the Only Case Where a Donor Acted

Liora Halperin held the Jack and Rebecca Benaroya Endowed Chair in Israel Studies at the University of Washington. After Halperin signed the May 2021 declaration, the Benaroya family requested the return of the entire $5 million endowment. The university complied. This is the only case among the fourteen where a donor withdrew funding.

Dov Waxman Ran UCLA's Israel Studies Center and Then Called Israel's War Genocide

Dov Waxman holds the Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies at UCLA and directs the university's Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. In August 2025, Waxman publicly wrote that Israel's military operations in Gaza amounted to genocide. UCLA has 24 faculty on the record against Israel.

Six More Endowed Chair Holders Signed Multiple Petitions Across Wake Forest, Penn, UMass, Lehigh, GW, and Clark

Barry Trachtenberg holds the Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest. He signed multiple petitions including "Not in Our Name."

David Ruderman is the Meyerhoff Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at Penn and former director of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. He signed "Not in Our Name."

Alon Confino holds the PenTishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies at UMass Amherst — "lest you forget" in Hebrew. He signed the May 2021 declaration.

Nitzan Lebovic holds the Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values at Lehigh University. He signed three petitions: the May 2021 declaration, an AcademicsForPeace petition, and "Not in Our Name."

Arie Dubnov holds the Ticktin Professorship of Israel Studies at George Washington University. He signed the May 2021 declaration and an AcademicsForPeace petition.

Frances Tanzer holds the Rose Professorship of Holocaust History at Clark University. She signed three petitions: the May 2021 declaration, an AcademicsForPeace petition, and "Not in Our Name."

Four Additional Chair Holders Signed From Brandeis, Louisville, USF, and Penn State

Bernadette Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt Professor Emerita at Brandeis — the university founded as a Jewish institution — signed an AcademicsForPeace petition.

Ranen Omer-Sherman holds the JHFE Endowed Chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Louisville, funded by the local Jewish community. He signed the May 2021 declaration.

Aaron Hahn Tapper holds the Mae and Benjamin Swig Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of San Francisco and directs the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. He signed the May 2021 declaration and an AcademicsForPeace petition.

Benjamin Schreier holds the Mitrani Family Professorship of English and Jewish Studies at Penn State. He signed the May 2021 declaration and "Not in Our Name." Penn State has 32 faculty on the record against Israel — and the national spokesperson for AcademicsForPeace teaches there.

Center Directors at Michigan, NYU, Oberlin, Brown, and Harvard Show the Same Pattern

Beyond endowed chairs, the faculty audit found program directors and department leaders following the same trajectory.

Michigan: The Frankel Center director signed "Not in Our Name." By 2026 commencement, 1,488 faculty had endorsed anti-Israel speech on campus.

NYU: 148 documented faculty boycotters — the highest individual faculty BDS count in the country.

Oberlin: All three core Jewish Studies faculty are petition signatories.

Brown: Established the first endowed chair in Palestinian Studies at any American university.

Harvard: A 2025 hire in Modern Jewish Studies identifies publicly as a "counter-Zionist."

Fourteen Chairs, Eleven Institutions, Thirteen Donors Still Funding the Opposition

In thirteen of fourteen cases, the donor's endowment remains in place. Only the Benaroya family at the University of Washington acted — withdrawing $5 million after a single signature.

The Raz Segal settlement is the most recent data point: $250,000 from the University of Minnesota, announced this week. The pattern runs in one direction. The donors funded chairs to strengthen Jewish scholarship. The scholars used those chairs to sign petitions against the Jewish state.

The Full Series: Olam's Faculty Audit

This report is part of Olam's ongoing national faculty audit — the largest study ever conducted of who teaches Judaism, Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, and Holocaust Studies in American universities.

A study by olam.business and the Ronn Torossian Foundation. The methodology is public. The data is sourced. Corrections, additions, and verification requests: contact olam.business.