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Malcolm Gladwell mercilessly mocks John Paulson’s obscene $400 million gift to Harvard

Malcolm Gladwell: not a Harvard fan.
Malcolm Gladwell: not a Harvard fan.
Malcolm Gladwell: not a Harvard fan.
Thos Robinson/Getty Images
Dylan Matthews
Dylan Matthews was a senior correspondent and head writer for Vox’s Future Perfect section. He is particularly interested in global health and pandemic prevention, anti-poverty efforts, economic policy and theory, and conflicts about the right way to do philanthropy.

New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t tweet a whole lot. He made an exception after hedge fund billionaire and financial crisis profiteer John Paulson’s ludicrous $400 million donation to Harvard, which is naming its engineering school after him in exchange.

In conjunction with this golden oldie:

… that makes nine tweets attacking Harvard out of 134 total — 6.7 percent of all of Gladwell’s tweets, in other words, concern Harvard. The school is certainly a worthy target: it’s no use as a charity, and Paulson’s money would be better spent basically anywhere else.


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