Marc Andreessen says US universities will pay for DEI: Report
What's the story
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has slammed top US universities, including Stanford and MIT, in a group chat with AI scientists and Donald Trump administration officials. The Washington Post obtained screenshots of the conversation. In the chat, Andreessen called MIT and Stanford "mainly political lobbying operations fighting American innovation." He also claimed that Stanford had removed his wife from her position as chair of its Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society without a second thought.
Statement
'Universities have declared war on 70% of the country'
Andreessen predicted that Stanford's decision to remove his wife would cost the university around $5 billion in future donations. He also warned that universities have "declared war on 70% of the country and now they're going to pay the price." The tech mogul specifically criticized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and immigration policies as "two forms of discrimination" that are "politically lethal."
Political ties
Andreessen's support for Trump's presidential campaign
Last year, Andreessen and his co-founder at Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, had announced their support for Trump's presidential campaign. Since then, some of his associates have taken up positions in the Trump administration. To note, when TechCrunch reached out to a16z for comment on these recent remarks by Andreessen, there was no immediate response from the firm.