Surviving Wall Street: Scott Bok on power, protest, and collapse

On May 10, the Colonial Theatre in North Canaan hosted Scott Bok, author of “Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy, and Timing.” Bok is a forty-year veteran of Wall Street. He has served on the boards of several nonprofits and is a resident of Salisbury.

Moderator of the event was Peter Canellos, senior editor of “Politico,” a former editor of the editorial page at the “Boston Globe,” and author of biographies of Ted Kennedy and Supreme Court Justice John Harlan.

When Bok started out, Mergers and Acquisitions was something you “didn’t hear about;” private equity and hedge funds did not exist. “Now,” he said, “Wall Street pervades American life.”

With his book, Bok wanted to “tell the history of modern Wall Street. “I aspired to write a fun adventure story.”

Bok survived five major crises, “hedge funds, dot coms, the pandemic, the Ukrainian War, and coming out of the pandemic.”

Canellos asked about Bok’s thoughts on tariffs. “Will they go away?” Bok said, “Hard to know. On the days when people think he’s (the president) going to back off, stocks go up. When they think he’s getting serious, stocks go down. If the tariffs stay, I probably stand with every economist I’ve read. It’s going to be very difficult.”

Canellos and Bok spoke extensively of the University of Pennsylvania’s crisis which began in September of 2023. At its heart was the issue of free speech. Bok said that in all his years on the board, there had never been any suggestion of antisemitism. He became chair of the board of trustees in 2021.

UPenn had always been lenient and tolerant of protests. Bok said only about “1% of the student population participated” in the protests.

The spark was a Palestinian writer’s festival. Some students wanted it to be moved off campus. On Oct. 7, the Hamasattacks on Isreal “turned up the heat,” said Bok or “things would probably have died down on their own.”

Bok relayed that some people on the board said “I am all for free speech” but then “hate speech cannot be allowed. How do you handle it?”

He said the board’s attitude was to “let it be, until the students crossed a line and then they had to act aggressively and did.”

Meanwhile, Liz Magill, president of UPenn, was called to a Congressional hearing, along with presidents of Harvard and MIT where she was questioned for hours.

Magill was asked “Does calling for genocide against Jews violate university code of ethics?” by Elise Stefanik of the House Education and Workforce Committee.

She answered, “It is a context dependent decision.”

Bok said that Magill was focused on what the Constitution says that speech alone is not punishable. As for call for the genocide of any people, she said, “It’s evil-plain and simple” and wouldnot be tolerated.

Bok said, “This was a viral ‘gotcha moment.’” In Bok’s opinion it was just what the committee was waiting for and had led Magill into. In her opening statement at the hearing Magill had already come out firmly against antisemitism and had said, “I have condemned antisemitism publicly, regularly, and in the strongest possible terms. And today, let me reiterate my and Penn’s unyielding commitment to combating it.”

Canellos commented, “President Trump was taking aim at elite institutions along the same lines as Elise Stefanik did in questioning Liz Magill.”

Both Magill and Bok ended up resigning their positions at UPenn. Bok said he felt it was “a battle for the soul of the university.” The schools were being attacked for what the administration considered being “too woke, too liberal.”

“Multi-million dollar levers are at play. International students who are a great part of the graduate programs, can’t get visas or don’t feel safe. Schools will lose students,” said Bok.

Tax-exempt status for schools is at risk. If they lose that, they will have to pay taxes on their property and land. There would be no tax deductions for donations to schools.

He said he is “rooting for Harvard and what it is doing.” Harvard “came out swinging” and is fighting back.

Canellos asked Bok, “How do you think this will end up?”

“It will be hard to roll back to where it was. Schools will be strapped for money.” He predicted there will be layoffs and schools will have to dip into their endowment funds. Bok said, “I worry that some people are waiting to downgrade colleges to trade schools. There will be no time for poetry.”

Canellos concluded by saying, “I admire your courage in taking on these difficult subjects.”

All of the profits from “Surviving Wall Street” go to City Harvest, New York City’s first and largest food rescue program.