Our constitutional rights under the First Amendment include the right of peaceable assembly, and this demonstration on the University of Pennsylvania campus in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia has been reported to be completely peaceful. But, in speaking their piece, the demonstrators, which included some Penn faculty, have exposed themselves to criticism of their message, and, unfortunately for the supporters of the Palestinians and Hamas terrorists, some of that criticism could come from deep-pockets donors. We have covered the backlash of deep-pockets donors against the outbreak of anti-Semitism on our college campuses, as recently as yesterday, but some people just don’t listen. From The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student newspaper:

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine hosts College Hall protest, blocks main entrance

by Sanya Tinaikar | Monday, January 29, 2024 | 10:43 PM EST

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine organized a die-in outside College Hall on Monday to demonstrate solidarity with civilians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In the die-in, participants simulated being dead to represent the victims of the Israel-Hamas conflict and protest ongoing violence in Gaza. The main entrance of College Hall was closed for the duration of the protest, which lasted approximately one hour. Two Division of Public Safety officers stood behind the entrance throughout the demonstration.

Bassil Kublaoui, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Penn Medicine and a spokesperson for PFJP, said that the purpose of the die-in was to draw attention to “the inaction of the university towards the Palestinian community and the racist, hate speech directed towards faculty, staff, and students calling for Palestinian justice.”

“We’re here because the University has been largely overlooking the Palestinian community and the killings of tens of thousands of civilians,” Kublaoui said.

Perhaps if they had expressed some sympathy for the Israelis, including children, who were murdered and raped and taken hostage by Hamas . . . .

So, who are the Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine? The student newspaper told us that a couple of weeks ago:

Penn faculty form pro-Palestinian advocacy group, outline goal for shared University governance

by Vidya Pandiaraju | Friday, January 19, 2024 | 1:45 AM EST

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine, a collective of Penn faculty who say they are standing in solidarity with Palestinians, announced its formation in a statement published by The Daily Pennsylvanian on Wednesday.

The group — which includes lecturers, staff, and graduate employees — said that it stands in alliance with the “ongoing, and ever urgent, struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare and displacement” and advocates for “shared governance” of the University.

PFJP also said that it rejects influence by donors and federal legislators on the University, calling on the administration to work alongside stakeholders in the Penn community to reject “Islamophobia, anti-Arab, antisemitic, and other racist attacks and harassment.”

Ahhh, there’s that last paragraph, telling us that these noble lecturers, staff, and graduate employees ‘reject’ influence by donors and federal legislators. They are perfectly within their rights to do so. But, as is so often the case, they have forgotten the Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules!

That would include Marc Rowan, a Wharton School graduate and CEO of Apollo Global Management, who, in 2018, gave $50 million to Penn’s Wharton School, which was, at the time, the largest single donation to the Ivy League university. Mr Rowan, disgusted with then university President Liz Magill’s unwillingness to fight anti-Semitism, called for the resignation of Miss Magill and Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bok, and called on alumni and donors to “close their checkbooks” until those two were gone.

Those two did resign, on December 9^th, two months after the demands made by Mr Rowan and others, but here came the Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine; does anyone believe that their protest and their antics will encourage Mr Rowan and people like Dick Wolf and Ronald Lauder to reopen their checkbooks.

Because that is the other side of the Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine’s exercise of their freedom of speech and peaceable assembly; the deep pockets donors have their own freedom to choose to donate, or not to donate, to the university. Remember: despite its state-school-sounding name, the University of Pennsylvania is a private college, with the school estimating a cost of attendance, not including housing — it’s listed as ‘living with family’ — of $73,494 per academic year. Yeah, Penn needs those donors to help provide the financial aid most students need to enroll.

It’s pretty simple: the far-left ‘woke’ have awakened other people, awoken them to the stupidity of leftism, to the utter insanity of supporting Hamas’ terrorism. People like Messrs Rowan and Wolf and Lauder and Bill Ackman and Ken Griffin don’t have to pick up a rifle and head for Israel to fight Hamas — and I have noticed that very few of the pro-Palestinian wokesters in the US have headed to Gaza to fight for the people they support — but will do what they can, by simply not giving money to people who hate them.