University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned from her post on Saturday after in the face of strong criticism from the white houselawmakers and alumni to appear to dodge a question a a congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism.
“I am writing to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as president of the University of Pennsylvania,” Scott L. Bok, chairman of the Penn Board of Trustees, wrote in a message to the Penn community on Saturday. “He will remain a tenured professor at Penn Carey Law.”
Shortly after Bok announced Magill's resignation, he announced he would also step down from his position, according to one statement published by the student newspaper Daily Pennsylvanian. “I concluded that, for me, now was the right time to leave,” Bok said in the statement.
A university spokesman confirmed Bok's resignation.
In a five-hour hearing Tuesday in the House, Magill and his counterparts at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were asked how their institutions responded to the surge in anti-Jewish hatred since the 7 October
In their testimonies, the three university leaders each condemned anti-Semitism. The outcry centered on a contentious exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., who asked whether “calling out the genocide of the Jews” would violate each school's code of conduct.
Rather than directly answer Stefanik's yes or no question, Magill said that decision would depend on context.
“If speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment,” she said.
Bok said in his statement that Magill “made a very unfortunate misstep” in his testimony, but praised his leadership skills and insisted he was “not one bit anti-Semitic”. He went on to say that Magill was “worn down by months of relentless external attacks” and “gave a legalistic answer to a moral question”, which made for “a terrible 30-second sound bite”.
Harvard President Claudine Gay responded to Stefanik's line of questioning in similar terms. He testified that when “speech intersects with conduct, that violates our policies.”
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said she had not heard of students on her campus calling for the genocide of the Jews, adding that such rhetoric would be “investigated as harassment if it is widespread and severe.”
In a two-minute video message posted Wednesday night on social media platform X, Magill explained his response and condemned calls for the genocide of the Jewish people in the most unequivocal terms.
“I didn't focus, but I should have, on the irrefutable fact that a call for the genocide of the Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence that human beings can perpetrate,” he said in the video.
“It's bad, plain and simple,” Magill added.
Gay has apologized for his comments. In an interview with the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, she said in part, “I got caught up in what had become at the time, a long and combative exchange about policies and procedures.”
“I couldn't convey what my truth is,” he added.
After Bok's resignation, board vice president Julie Platt was named provisional president. She will serve until a successor is named, the university said.
In a written statement, Platt, who also serves as president of the Jewish Federations of North America, said Penn's leadership change was “necessary.”
“As vice president of the university's board these past months, I have worked hard from within to address the growing problems of anti-Semitism on campus. Unfortunately, we have not made all the progress we should have and want to make,” she said. to say. said
“In my view, given the opportunity to choose between right and wrong, the three college presidents testifying in the US House of Representatives failed,” he added. “The change in leadership at the university was therefore necessary and appropriate.”
The national cry
The college presidents' exchanges with Stefanik went viral on social media and drew furious criticism from political leaders in both parties, as well as Jewish community advocates, alumni and donors.
In a statement Wednesday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “It's unbelievable that this has to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we stand for as a country.”
“Any statements that advocate the systematic killing of Jews are dangerous and revolting, and we should all stand firmly against them, on the side of human dignity and the most basic values that unite us as Americans.” , added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters Wednesday that Magill's response was “unacceptable.”
“I've said many times, leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity, and Liz Magill failed that simple test,” said Shapiro, a Democrat. “I think whether you're talking about genocide against Jews, genocide against people of color, genocide against LGBTQ people, it's all wrong.”
The governor added that he believed the university's board needed to make a “serious decision” about Magill's leadership at the Ivy League university.
Ross Stevens, a Penn alumnus and CEO of financial firm Stone Ridge Holdings, sent a letter to the university on Thursday threatening to divest $100 million in shares of his company held by the university unless Magill leave your position
In the letter, which was obtained by NBC News, Stevens cited Magill's congressional testimony and said he is “appalled by the University's stance on anti-Semitism on campus.”
Magill's high-profile critics included billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who repeatedly called for his ouster from X. “Now the focus is on Presidents Gay and Kornbluth and the boards of @Harvard and @MIT,” he tweeted Saturday in the wake of Magill's. way out.
Stefanik announced Thursday that the House Education and Workforce Committee was launching a congressional investigation with “the full force of the subpoena power” into Penn, MIT, Harvard and other unspecified universities.
“We will use our full congressional authority to hold these schools accountable for their failure on the global stage,” Stefanik said in a statement.
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