University of Pennsylvania head quits amid antisemitism row

The head of an Ivy League university has resigned following a fierce backlash to her congressional testimony in which she refused to say calling for the genocide of Jews constituted “harassment”.

Liz Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), quit days after donors threatened to withdraw $100million gifts from the school if she did not go. 

Scott Bok, the chair of the Penn Board of Trustees, said on Saturday Ms Magill had “voluntarily tendered her resignation” as president and would remain a faculty member.

Ms Magill said in a statement “it has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution.”Mr Bok later announced his own resignation following Ms Magill’s decision to step down, saying it was “the right time to depart”. 

He said Ms Magill had made a “very unfortunate misstep” —consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her—after five hours of aggressive questioning”.

”Following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I concurrently decided that it was time for her to exit.”

He said Ms Magill was a “good person and a talented leader who was beloved by her team”, adding: “She is not the slightest bit anti-Semitic. Working with her was one of the great pleasures of my life. Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday.

”Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.”

During Tuesday’s five-hour hearing, Ms Magill and her counterparts at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were questioned on how their institutions had responded to the rise in anti-Semitism since 7 October.

While all three university leaders condemned Hamas and anti-Semitism, they refused to say whether  “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their university’s code of conduct.

’’If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes,” Ms Magill told committee member Elise Stefanik. 

Pressed further, Ms Magill, 57, added: “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”

Their responses sparked criticism from the White House, Pennsylvania’s governor, members of Congress and donors.

One donor, Ross Stevens, threatened to withdraw a $100 million gift because of the university’s “stance on antisemitism on campus” unless Ms Magill was replaced.

A day later, Ms Magill addressed the criticism, saying in a video that she would consider a call for the genocide of Jewish people to be harassment or intimidation and that UPenn’s policies need to be “clarified and evaluated.”

Responding to Ms Magill’s resignation, Ms Stefanik said: “one down. Two to go”.

She said her departure is the “bare minimum of what is required”.

Writing on Twitter, Ms Stefanik added: “This is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism that has destroyed the most ‘prestigious’ higher education institutions in America.”

Campus hosted Palestinian festival

Ms Magill had already been under fire from some donors and alumni over the university’s handling of various perceived acts of antisemitism.

That included allowing a Palestinian literary arts festival to be held on its campus in September featuring speakers whose past statements about Israel had drawn accusations of antisemitism.

A former US Supreme Court law clerk, Ms Magill is the daughter of a retired federal judge and was dean of Stanford University’s law school and a top administrator at the University of Virginia before she became UPenn’s ninth president last year.

Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday New York’s governor called on the state’s colleges and universities to swiftly address cases of antisemitism and what she described as any “calls for genocide” on campus.

In a letter to college and university presidents, Kathy Hochul said her administration would enforce violations of the state’s Human Rights Law and refer any violations of federal civil rights law to US officials.

Ms Hochul said she has spoken to chancellors of the State University of New York and City University of New York public college systems who she said confirmed “that calling for genocide of any group” or tolerating antisemitism violates codes of conduct on their campuses “and would lead to swift disciplinary action.”