Andreessen Horowitz Founder Criticizes Elite Universities Over DEI Policies

Marc Andreessen, the founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has expressed his frustration with some of America’s elite higher education institutions, including Stanford University and MIT, in private messages to top Trump administration officials. Andreessen’s comments, which have sparked significant criticism, allege that these institutions are engaging in reverse discrimination against the children of conservative Trump voters.

In messages from May, uncovered by the Washington Post, Andreessen wrote, “Now my people are furious and not going to take it anymore.” His remarks indicate a broader backlash among wealthy elites against the institutions where they received their degrees.

Andreessen’s criticism is part of a larger trend among tech entrepreneurs and billionaires who have voiced their discontent with higher education institutions. Elon Musk, an Ivy League graduate and fellow tech entrepreneur, has frequently criticized higher education as a breeding ground for leftist political ideology. Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has repeatedly attacked his alma mater, Harvard University, over its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Andreessen’s messages highlight his belief that the combination of DEI and immigration policies is politically detrimental. He argues that these policies have systematically excluded a significant portion of the population from access to higher education and corporate America. “They declared war on 70% of the country and now they’re going to pay the price,” he wrote.

While Andreessen did not specify the demographic majority he was referring to, his comments have been interpreted as a reference to white America. The latest U.S. Census Bureau figures for 2024 put the percentage of white Americans in the population at 75.3%.

Andreessen’s messages also reveal his personal background and his frustration with the current state of affairs. “I was born in 1971 in Iowa and grew up in Wisconsin,” he wrote. “My cohort of citizens was told that we just had to put up with this as a cost of prior American bigotry, even though the discrimination was now aimed at us.”

He continued, “The insanity of the last 8 years and in particular the summer of 2020 totally shredded that complacency. And so now my people are furious and not going to take it anymore.” The reference to 2020 is likely meant to be the nationwide protests that erupted after the murder of black American George Floyd by a white police officer.

Andreessen’s comments were made privately among an elite circle of high-ranking administration officials in Trump’s government. As a result, they were very direct in nature, attacking universities like Stanford and MIT, as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF). “I view Stanford and MIT as mainly political lobbying operations fighting American innovation at this point,” he confided.

The messages have sparked heavy criticism, in part because the NSF helped fund his research on computers through a large grant in 1994 that led directly to Andreessen’s fortune as creator of web browser Netscape Navigator.

Andreessen’s shift in political allegiance is notable. After long supporting the Clinton-era Democrats, he previously said he no longer saw his interests reflected by the party’s leadership amid an embrace of DEI and identity-based policies. He then endorsed Trump’s campaign last year, arguing the Biden administration’s hostile approach to crypto—where his VC firm is the industry’s leading investor—would stifle America’s economic innovation.

While the crypto economy is a key focus at Andreessen Horowitz, often shortened to a16z, the company is also heavily invested in AI and led the $2 billion funding round for Mira Murati’s new artificial intelligence startup, Thinking Machines Lab.