California's Russell Sage Foundation-Columbia U.-Tel Aviv U. Connection Revisited

The current president of the NYC-based Russell Sage Foundation [RSF] is an Australian-born Russell Sage Foundation "Visiting Scholar" and former Princeton U., Harvard U. and Columbia U. professor named Bruce Western, who is also a member of the RSF board of trustees. And currently sitting next to former Columbia U. Professor Western on the RSF board of trustees, along with 12 other U.S. university professors, is a Stanford University professor named Hazel Roe Markus; who, according to the RSF's Form 990 financial filing for 2023, was paid $14,328 by the RSF between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, for sitting on its board of trustees.

Besides a professor from California's Stanford University sitting on the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Columbia University-connected RSF, a professor from Tel Aviv University-affiliated NYU, two Yale University professors, two Harvard University professors, two U. of Chicago professors, two U. of Michigan professors, a U. of Rochester professor, a U. of Pennsylvania professor and a Northwestern University professor also currently sit on the RSF board of trustees.

But most of the professors at either their universities or at other universities in California and other states in the USA seem to not have been very eager to encourage U.S. antiwar college students to examine either the historical relationship between Tel Aviv University-affiliated Columbia U. or how the Russell Sage Foundation--whose net assets exceeded $456 million on Aug. 31, 2024--obtained over $6.5 million in net investment income between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, how Silchester International Investors Inc. (which received over $1 million from the "non-profit" RSF between Sept 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024) invested RSF money, or to what degree RSF's "charitable" grant money is obtained from the economic exploitation and oppression of working-class people and consumers?

One reason might be because much of the "charitable" grant money that the historically Columbia U.-connected RSF obtains is distributed to mostly upper-middle-class academics at universities in California (or in other U.S. states), such as Stanford University and on the University of California's different campuses.

Between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, for example, besides giving 5 grants, totaling over $357,000 (including a $181,173 "charitable" grant to study "How Social Media Influencers Shape the Politics of Young Adults"), to Columbia U., the RSF gave:

1. Two grants, totaling $106,326, to Stanford University;

2. Two grants, totaling $118,448, to U. of California-Berkeley;

3. A $74, 298 grant to U. of California-Davis;

4. Six grants, totaling $221,661, to U. of California-Irvine;

5. Eight grants, totaling $554,957, to UCLA;

6. A $87,184 grant to U. of California-Merced;

7. A $10,000 grant to U. of California-Riverside;

8. Six grants, totaling $283,701, to U. of California-San Diego; and

9. A $10,000 grant to U. of California-Santa Barbara.

And, in addition, between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, besides approving for future payment 3 more grants, totaling $185,000 (including a $75,000 "charitable" grant for a "Can We Talk About Race and Racism On Social Media? Evidence From a Feed" study) to Tel Aviv University-affiliated Columbia U., the RSF approved for future payment:

1. Three grants, totaling $319,496, to Stanford University;

2. A $10,000 grant to U. of California-Berkeley;

3. A $29,995 grant to U. of California-Davis;

4. Two grants, totaling $64,993, to U. of California-Irvine;

5. Two grants, totaling 180,964, to UCLA; and

6. Two grants, totaling $150,765, to U. of California-San Diego.

And between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, the Columbia U.-connected Russell Sage Foundation [RSF], itself, received a $1,650,000 "contribution" from the Gates Foundation, a $200,000 "contribution" from the Spencer Foundation, a $200,000 "contribution" from the W.T. Grant Foundation and a $400,000 "contribution" from the Menlo Park, California-based Hewlett Foundation, while the RSF also gave:

1. A $74,800 grant to the California-based RAND Corporation;

2. A $25,000 grant to the California-based University Corporation at Monterey Bay;

3. A $22,307 grant to the California State University East Bay Foundation Inc.; and

4. A $75,000 "charitable" grant to Arizona State University in Arizona to "study" the "youth vote and political engagement in unsettled times."

The RSF's Form 990 financial filing for 2023 also indicates, incidentally, that between Sept. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024, the "non-profit" Russell Sage Foundation also paid its then-RSF president, Sheldon Denzinger, a total annual compensation of $847,546.