Rory MacDonald, a 20-year-old Tulane University history student, is seated with a handful of fellow protestors in the audience of New Orleans' Gallier Hall March 13, 2024. When Halliburton Labs' executive director took the stage, that was MacDonald's cue. They gripped their canvas bag tight as they prepared to rise—and disrupt.
A few seats away from MacDonald sits Walter Isaacson, Halliburton Labs board member, ex-CNN CEO, Elon Musk biographer, and co-chair of the New Orleans Book Festival— happening at Tulane University the same week.
Once the New Orleans City Hall, the historic Greek Revival building on St. Charles Avenue is where the city's mayor greets Mardi Gras royalty as parades roll by during Carnival. But on this day, the building hosted panel discussions for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW)—in which several projects and corporations are tied to Israel.
Halliburton, for example, extracts gas off the Israeli coast, and Halliburton Labs—which funds energy ventures like Energean Israel Limited—has supported at least three different Israeli energy startups. At the time, Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza had killed at least 30,000 Palestinians. That number has since reached almost 40,000, with more than 10,000 missing.
In a now widely circulated video, MacDonald jumps to their feet and speaks from their chest: "End LSU's partnership with Haifa University!" McDonald shouts. "The US-Israel Energy Center and Tulane University are poisoning Louisiana and stealing natural gas from Palestinian–." The venue turns up some jaunty pop music to drown them out.
MacDonald tries to shout louder, but Isaacson is already at their elbow. And though security officials are present at Gallier Hall, Isaacson grabs MacDonald's wrist and then their arm. He proceeds to push MacDonald, forcing them out of their shared row.
MacDonald recognizes Isaacson—they are both in the history department, where Isaacson is a professor. But Isaacson is cursing at them, and he keeps pushing and shoving until he has forced MacDonald out of the room.
"I was very shocked," MacDonald said. "I only realized after I left that I'd been bruised when he attacked me."
MacDonald knew immediately that they would need to quickly document what had happened, because "powerful people, especially powerful men, feel like they can do whatever they want," they said. "[Isaacson] certainly did. And so far, Tulane has proven him right."
Born and raised in New Orleans, Isaacson is a virtual hub of soft power; a man with fingers in many pies.
He has appeared on TIME's 100 Most Influential People list. He was president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit scrutinized for its funding sources. He's been the chair and CEO of CNN, the editor of Time magazine, and chairman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, overseeing outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. He has been the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority—the state organization endowed with the power to oversee post-Katrina recovery, reconstruction, and administration of federal recovery dollars—and a US Department of Defense's Innovation Advisory Board board member.
In 2007, Isaacson was selected by then-President George Bush as chairman of the US-Palestinian Partnership and then by Hillary Clinton to co-chair a venture encouraging private-sector investments and partnerships in "Muslim communities globally." President Biden even gave him a National Humanities Medal in 2021.
He is also a celebrated biographer of figures, ranging from Henry Kissinger to Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. Most recently, he wrote a sweeping 670-page biography of Elon Musk, which has faced criticism for some basic factual errors and omissions of documented racism and apartheid.
The answer as to why Isaacson, a well-heeled and well-connected 72-year-old professor, would take it upon himself to use force against his own university's student for speaking out against the genocide may lie, like so many others, in the money.
Isaacson's professorship at Tulane University is funded by cosmetics billionaire Leonard Lauder, who has been named as a major supporter of Israel's President Benjamin Netanyahu. The same Lauder funding also supports the "Voices of the South" panels at the New Orleans Book Festival.
Notably, Leonard Lauder's brother, Ronald Lauder, ended his funding for another university at the end of last year squarely blaming the institution's refusal to cancel a Palestinian literature festival.
Students, professors, and authors at both schools have condemned the ties to pro-Israeli extremists and question whether the funding is having an undue influence leading at least one celebrated author to swear off future participation.
New Orleans Book Festival's funding
Founded in 2010, the New Orleans Book Festival is a nonprofit housed within and in partnership with Tulane University. The three-day festival, which is free and open to the public, features local, regional, and international authors. At this year's festival, held March 14-16, more than 100 well-known writers appeared, including Stacey Abrams, Kwame Alexander, Clint Smith, and Jesmyn Ward.
The Festival, which aims to "support and nurture a literary community," is also an opportunity for writers and readers to connect in a city known for its culture and diversity.
More than 12,000 people attended this year, with audiences spilling into overflow rooms to catch some of the panel discussions. One of the most popular and highly-anticipated events was a panel called "Voices of the South," which featured a conversation between authors Imani Perry, Clint Smith, and Jesmyn Ward, moderated by author and scholar Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. The discussion centered on the experience of being a Black Southern writer: Ward spoke about grappling with the "angels and the demons" of the South, and "wrestling with the legacy of chattel slavery. Wrestling with generational poverty. Wrestling with institutional racism…Wrestling with the erasure and genocide of indigenous people. All these things that are particular to this place." That panel was part of the Tulane-Aspen Values in America Speaker Series—the one funded by Leonard Lauder.
Leonard Lauder is the chairman emeritus of international cosmetics company The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. Leonard, along with his brother Ronald, have used their billions to wield influence and fund causes they support—including far-right, Zionist elements in Israel.
Leonard Lauder's name appears on what is known as "Bibi's List of Millionaires," a piece of paper listing potential major donors to Netanyahu's 2007 election efforts, prepared by campaign aides. Netanyahu has circled Lauder's name. It is included with powerful right-wing figures, such as Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch (also circled).
Lauder has not publicly confirmed or denied support for Netanyahu, and Scalawag's efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
Ronald Lauder, however, has been very vocal in his support for Israel. A former US Ambassador, Lauder has been an enthusiastic supporter of the far-right Likud party, has argued for Israel's place in NATO, argued for Jersulaum to be solely Israeli territory, and reportedly illegally helped bankroll Netanyahu's PM campaign.
In 1998, Benjamin Netanyahu even asked Ronald Lauder to "launch back-channel negotiations" with the Syrian President, according to a profile of him in the Jerusalem Post—efforts Lauder reportedly kept secret from then-President Bill Clinton. Since October 7, Ronald Lauder has been in regular contact with foreign leaders around Europe and the Middle East, attempting to shore up support for Israel.
The past pattern of Lauder money being used as anti-Palestinian leverage
This history of the Lauders' material support for Netanyahu is particularly concerning for some, in part because Ronald Lauder has made it clear that his generous funding is contingent on the recipient not only supporting Israel but also on their repressing Palestinian voices.
Among the Lauder brother's other academic-philanthropic efforts, they have both donated generously to UPenn. The school even has a "Lauder Institute" named after them. But things changed when, in September 2023, Ronald Lauder demanded the school refuse to host the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.
That literature festival is similar to the one at Tulane: a family-friendly, free, and open festival with poetry readings and workshops, seeking to promote cross-cultural exchange and uplift marginalized voices—in this case, those of Palestinians. And Lauder wanted it gone. First, in early September—well before the start of the war on Gaza on October 7—he traveled to Philadelphia for an in-person meeting with UPenn's president, Liz Magill, to urge her to cancel it. In two separate phone calls after that meeting, Lauder again told Magill not to allow the festival on campus.
After the festival, he wrote a letter to Magill, warning her that he had "two people taking photos and two more who listened to the speakers" at the festival. He said his sources had told him that event speakers were "both antisemitic and viscerally anti-Israel."
"I have spent the past 40 years of my life fighting antisemitism all over the world," Lauder wrote, "and I never, in my wildest imagination, thought I would have to fight it at my university, my alma mater and my family's alma mater."
Shortly after, Ronald Lauder announced in a speech at a Heritage Foundation event that he would be pulling his funding from the University of Pennsylvania, in response to the school's refusal to submit to his demands.
But festival organizers say Ronald Lauder is conflating critiques of the illegal Israeli occupation with antisemitism.
"This was a family-friendly event," said Dr. Huda Fakhreddine, one of the festival's organizers. "It was primarily cultural. I mean, you cannot talk about culture without history and politics. But we were very deliberate about not presenting this festival in opposition to anyone. The festival was a celebration of Palestinian cultural heritage on its own terms."
Fakhreddine is an Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at UPenn. She said the goal of the festival was to celebrate Palestinian history, culture, and art—and that Lauder's attempts to have it shut down are very concerning.
"This is one of the gravest examples of violations of academic freedom and First Amendment rights and freedom of expression," Fakhreddine said. "To use pulling funding to call for the shutting down of certain programs and departments is exactly what will bring down or destroy the idea of a university in this country."
The Palestine Writes Literature Festival featured events and panel discussions with authors like Viet Thanh Nguyen, Marc Lamont Hill, and Noura Erakat. One of the panelists was supposed to be Refaat Alareer, a writer and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza. Fellow poet and panelist Mosab Abu Toha wrote in an Instagram post that Alareer had been unable to participate because he could not attend a visa interview at the US embassy due to travel restrictions "because of the siege and occupation."
Alareer was killed in December by an Israeli airstrike on his family home. He was 44.
How Isaacson got student banned, organizer arrested
It is unclear whether Isaacson was aware of his funder's history when he shoved and silenced MacDonald in March. But the professor did make it abundantly clear that pro-Palestine voices are not welcome at Tulane's New Orleans Book Festival.
Three days after the incident with Isaacson, MacDonald and others were back protesting, this time on the public sidewalk next to campus, while the Book Festival was being held nearby.
Officers from the Tulane University Police Department (TUPD) warned MacDonald that they had been banned from campus for the duration of the Book Festival (as TUPD records are not public, it's unclear whether this ban came at Isaacson's request).
While telling them this, TUPD began trying to physically pull MacDonald to come onto campus, saying it was to give them their official ban citation. At that moment, Toni Jones, a Black trans organizer wearing an orange safety vest, stepped in and tried to de-escalate. TUPD then arrested Jones.
While TUPD was arresting Jones, one of the Lauder-funded panels—this one about courage in journalism—was being held nearby, where Ronan Farrow discussed how power structures can mask the truth and the frightening censorship of free speech.
In their role with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), MacDonald said that they had "been organizing in a very hostile environment from the jump." That feeling is echoed in an open letter signed by 100+ Tulane staff, faculty, and students. The letter, addressed to Tulane's President Michael Fitts, alleges anti-Palestine bias and "thinly-veiled contempt towards non-Israeli MENA [Middle East and North African] people and scholarship at Tulane University." The letter was sent two days after Professor Isaacson shoved MacDonald.
MacDonald has since filed a complaint with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), alleging Isaacson committed simple battery. MacDonald says NOPD referred the case to TUPD, despite the incident occurring off-campus. The case is still open, but appears to have been downgraded to a "disturbance."
The incident report, obtained by Scalawag, says an officer emailed Isaacson, seeking his statement on the incident. Isaacson's attorney, Billy Gibbens, responded instead on March 26. When an officer called Gibbens, Gibbens told her that Isaacson would not be giving a statement and that he, as Isaacson's lawyer, would give one instead.
The officer told Gibbens the NOPD needed a statement directly from Isaacson. Gibbens again told the officer that he would make the statement on Isaacson's behalf. The officer again told Gibbens the police needed to hear "directly from Mr Isaacson, at which time Gibbens stated, 'This is not how it goes and I better not be trying to charge him with anything.'"
The officer told Gibbens a third time that Isaacson needed to make the statement himself, adding Isaacson could "come in with representation to make a statement."
The report ends after that conversation. It appears Isaacson has never given a statement to the police, and there have been no apparent consequences for Isaacson, neither from the police nor the university administration.
A couple of months later, amid the massive student protest movement, organizers at Tulane established their own Gaza Solidarity encampment. MacDonald was suspended for their participation, along with half a dozen other students. The school's SDS chapter was also suspended.
Tulane is now attempting to purchase the segment of public sidewalk where many of the Palestine protests and pushback happen, including TUPD's arrest of Jones.
In May, six students at UPenn were placed on "leave of absence" for participating in a Gaza Solidarity Encampment held on campus.
Fakhreddine said these actions by Tulane and UPenn send a clear message: "It tells students that they're not all equal," she said. "This has become clear over the eight months. Students have put their futures and their bodies on the line for a cause that they believe is just, and they've been punished for it instead of being celebrated and appreciated."
Last week, MacDonald and 13 other protestors went to court, facing up to six months of jail time, in the country's first trial of encampment protesters. The state called 14 law enforcement officers to testify. A lawyer for the defendants said they were well-prepared, working for weeks and late into the night before the trial. But in many ways, the deck was stacked against them.
They claim that Tulane destroyed evidence and the state chose not to turn over discovery materials they were legally entitled to. Tulane spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers to investigate and litigate — both administratively and in court. They hired Jones Walker, a massive law firm based in New Orleans that has defended tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies, and BP after the Deepwater Horizon disaster — calling the acquittal of a BP executive who lied about the oil spill a "major victory" — to dig up dirt on the young protestors.
After closing arguments, the officers who had been sequestered during testimony were allowed into the courtroom and seated right next to the judge. Lawyers did their closing arguments with 17 uniformed officers staring at them from the jury box. After the arguments, the judge retired for about 5 minutes, came back out, warned the courtroom that any outbursts would result in jail time, and then simply uttered two words: Not Guilty.
While the outcome was good for MacDonald, they're still facing disciplinary action from Tulane. And the vast militarized presence that descended on these students was not only traumatizing for them all, but an enormous waste of taxpayer resources. Bodycam footage from the night of the arrests shows Tulane Police Department officers discussing with glee how the litigation would get them new guns, armored vehicles, and other militarized equipment.
The Tulane Book Festival's future
Ronald Lauder interfered to suppress free speech at UPenn. Meanwhile, at Tulane, it appears explicit interference was not needed: Isaacson, with the backing of Tulane administration and police, was ready to physically and legally repress those fighting for marginalized people, even as they held panels centering Black Southern experiences, using other marginalized voices to reap cultural capital.
Isaacson did not respond to requests for comment for this story and Lauder, through a representative, declined to participate.
It is unclear whether the Values of America panel speakers are aware of the connection between the series' funding source and far-right extremists in Israel. "The problem is that most of us have no idea who is funding most of the things we participate in," said author Kiese Laymon. "I know I need to be better."
None of the Voices of the South panel participants responded to requests for interviews for this story.
Laymon was slated to appear on the Voices of the South panel at this year's Festival. He had to cancel this year due to health reasons, but he said in the future, in light of the funding connection, he would reject any invitations to participate.
"Oh, definitely not going now," Laymon said. "I hope that a lot of us are considering or reconsidering how all of our choices can aid the mass killing of poor people. I can't engage with any book fair if its funders believe in the mass killing of poor people."