2023-12-10 00:31:04
Bloomberg — University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bok resigned after coming under pressure from alumni, donors and lawmakers amid an ongoing dispute over anti-Semitism on campus.
Magill’s resignation was announced in a statement by Bok, who later issued his own statement. Magill will remain in office until he appoints an interim president.
His resignation is the highest-profile response yet to a growing crisis facing American academic leaders following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Amid protests rocking college campuses, schools have been struggling to balance free speech while ensuring students are free from harassment and intimidation.
“It has been a privilege to serve as President of this extraordinary institution,” Magill said Saturday in the statement. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”
Alumni, donors and lawmakers have demanded a change in Penn leadership over Magill’s handling of anti-Semitism on campus, part of a broader crisis that has engulfed three of the world’s most elite universities.
Magill, Claudine Gay of Harvard University, and Sally Kornbluth, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have come under fire from politicians, businesspeople and alumni since they testified Tuesday before the House Education and Labor Committee. of Representatives of the United States.
All three spent hours insisting on the need to balance free speech with a safe environment for students, but did not categorically state that calling for the genocide of Jews is against school policy. Instead, they offered highly criticized legal responses that quickly went viral on social media.
Magill posted a video to clarify his statements, stating that he should have focused on the “irrefutable fact” that such a call is “one of the most terrible violence that human beings can perpetrate.”
The resignation was welcomed by some lawmakers, including House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, who reiterated criticism of Magill’s testimony.
“President Magill had three opportunities to set the record straight when asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated UPenn’s code of conduct during our hearing on anti-Semitism. Instead of giving a resounding yes to the question, he chose to err,” House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx said Saturday. “I welcome his departure from UPenn.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, who had called for the resignation of the three leaders, vowed to continue scrutiny of Penn and the other universities.
“These universities can look forward to a robust and comprehensive congressional investigation into all facets of the negligent perpetration of anti-Semitism at their institutions, including administrative, faculty and general leadership and governance,” Stefanik, a New York Republican, said in a statement. “Harvard and MIT, do the right thing. “The world is watching.”
Magill took the top job at the Philadelphia school in July 2022, replacing Amy Gutmann, who became the U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Magill came to Penn from a job as chancellor of the University of Virginia. An expert in constitutional law, she was also dean of Stanford Law School. Magill, who grew up in North Dakota, worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Magill’s first controversy over anti-Semitism arose before the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group. In September, the school hosted a festival of Palestinian literature, despite concerns raised by donors and alumni, including Ronald Lauder and Marc Rowan, that some of the speakers were anti-Semitic.
The university defended its decision to host the festival, which fell close to Yom Kippur, the holiest Jewish holiday.
In Philadelphia, where Penn is the largest private employer, Magill served on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the board of directors of the Schuylkill River Development Corp.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
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