George Soros academic funding was targeted by Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán forced Central European University (CEU) to move its US degree courses to Vienna last December. The move has made it impossible for CEU to issue American degrees in Budapest.
“George Soros academic funding was targeted by Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party”
George Soros academic funding, a supporter of liberal causes has long been a target for far-right groups, particularly in Hungary
George Soros is a billionaire currency speculator and is one of the biggest philanthropists in the world.
He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Hungary funding free school meals, human rights projects, and a new university.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his populist-nationalist government claim that George Soros has a secret agenda to flood Hungary with migrants and destroy the nation. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of running state-funded media campaigns that vilify Mr. Soros and revives anti-Semitic stereotypes. The Hungarian government has denied the accusations.
“George Soros is a billionaire currency speculator and is one of the biggest philanthropists in the world”
Despite last’s year’s setback George Soros, academic funding continues through his Open Society Foundations charity (OSF)
OSF is an international grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Since its establishment in 1993, OSF has reported expenditures above $11 billion mostly in grants towards NGOs, aligned with the organization’s mission.
George Soros wrote in a recent letter to the Central European University Community.
That OSF decided to close its office in Budapest in 2018 after repeated attacks from Orban, including claims that the charity had encouraged migration to Europe.
“Nicolai Tangen’s $25 million donations mirrored that of David Tepper the world’s 4th highest-earning hedge fund manager who made a $67 million donation to Carnegie Mellon University”
George Soros academic funding will not dry up
“CEU is nevertheless determined to maintain both academic and public activities on its campus in Budapest and it has the full support of the Open Society Foundations and me personally in this endeavor” wrote George Soros.
“I, therefore, reiterate the commitment—made in June—that CEU has an assured future: the Open Society Foundations intend to increase CEU’s endowments” he added.
“I should like to thank the perseverance and loyalty of the CEU community under the inspired leadership of its president and rector Michael Ignatieff in very difficult circumstances. I am also grateful for the steadfast support CEU received both from the Hungarian public and the global academic community. With their support, CEU has emerged as the beacon and symbol of academic freedom worldwide” wrote George Soros.
George Soros academic funding is a growing trend amongst billionaire investors
Back in January, I reported that Nicolai Tangen‘s $25 million donations to Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania have been earmarked to construct and transform a new campus building, which will be named Tangen Hall. Moreover, Nicolai Tangen’s $25 million donations mirrored that of David Tepper the world’s 4th highest-earning hedge fund manager who made a $67 million donation to Carnegie Mellon University.
So George Soros’s academic funding is not out of the ordinary but what is new is the polarization of politics, which seeks to criminalize or ban organizations with opposing political views. The last time this happened in Europe it didn’t end well.
