Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin on Wednesday revealed a $3 billion donation for Carnegie Mellon University to open a new campus in Miami \u2014 a surprise bid to turbocharge the technology industry in Florida.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the largest-ever donation to an American higher education institution, and a snub to Harvard University<\/a> \u2013 sixfold the $500 million Griffin gave to his alma mater over the years before ending his donations over its weak handling of antisemitism.<\/p>\n Griffin said he was drawn to Carnegie Mellon\u2019s ability to attract top science and tech talent, as the university is home to the world\u2019s first robotics institute and the first computer science college in the nation, according to a press release<\/a> detailing the investment.<\/p>\n Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin (above) announced a record-breaking investment to Carnegie Mellon University. REUTERS<\/p>\n His gift includes $2 billion to support the launch of a 35-acre campus in Miami\u2019s Wynwood neighborhood, to start enrolling students in 2028. Another $1 billion will go toward Carnegie Mellon\u2019s main Pittsburgh campus.<\/p>\n The record contribution comes four years after the Citadel and Citadel Securities founder \u2013 worth more than $57 billion, per Forbes \u2013 moved his home and his company\u2019s headquarters to Miami from Chicago after complaining about rampant crime<\/a>. Griffin has also blasted blue cities\u2019 high taxes<\/a>, sparring with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n He has been trying to mold the Sunshine State into a business hub to rival New York City. The Carnegie Mellon donation \u2013 which includes the value of real estate he recently purchased in Wynwood and will donate for the new campus \u2013 brings his total contributions in the area to $2.4 billion, according to the Financial Times.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be in some sense the East Coast answer to what happens in Silicon Valley,\u201d Griffin told the outlet. \u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that the students who come here to Carnegie Mellon not only have an extraordinary educational experience in Miami, but this is what they learn to call home.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Fulop, president and CEO of the pro-business group Partnership for NYC, called it an \u201cobvious win for Miami\u201d \u2013 warning that \u201cin many ways\u201d it comes at \u201cthe expense of Chicago and NYC.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is obvious, but worth saying: when companies relocate or build major new hubs, the impact goes far beyond employees, taxes and direct economic activity. Civic investment and philanthropy follow too,\u201d Fulop wrote in a post on X<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n A rendering of Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Miami campus, which is slated to begin construction in 2027. Carnegie Mellon University<\/p>\n Carnegie Mellon \u2013 the computer science school created by merging universities backed by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie and financier Andrew Mellon \u2013 is a surprise choice for Griffin, who graduated from Harvard in 1989.<\/p>\n The new state-of-the-art Miami campus will eventually support more than 3,500 undergraduate, master\u2019s and PhD students; nearly 300 faculty members; and over 600 staffers. Construction is slated to begin in 2027.<\/p>\n Half of Griffin\u2019s gift to the Pittsburgh campus will go toward its school of computer science, which will be renamed to the Kenneth C Griffin School of Computer Science. Griffin will also join Carnegie Mellon\u2019s board of trustees.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a massive boost for the university, which boasts an endowment of roughly $4 billion \u2013 far below the endowments of Ivy League institutions, which can climb far above $20 billion.<\/p>\n Griffin has been eager to bring a top university to Florida since he moved there, hoping that tech and science students who attend the new school will move downtown after graduating to work or launch their own businesses there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Pittsburgh campus, which will also receive a share of the philanthropic gift. UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n In January 2024, Griffin said he would be ending his donations to Harvard after its feeble response to antisemitism and pro-Palestinian encampments on campus, blasting Ivy League institutions for churning out \u201cwhiny snowflake\u201d students and focusing on DEI.\u00a0<\/p>\n