Penn President walks back congressional remarks on antisemitism after backlash
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill now says in a video that calls for genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment and intimidation | WATCH
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill backtracked from comments she made during a congressional hearing addressing antisemitism on college campuses after facing an outpouring of criticism over her remarks.
Politicians questioned Magill and the presidents of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday about their responses to protests against the Israel-Hamas war, sometimes featuring antisemitic rhetoric, that have led to rising tensions on their campuses. During one exchange, the presidents were asked if calling for the genocide of Jewish students would violate the policies of the schools. Magill said it depended on the context.
“In that moment, I was focused on our university’s longstanding policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable,” Magill said in a video message released Wednesday night. “I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.” Magill said in the video calls for genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment and intimidation in her view.
“A call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening, deeply so,” Magill said. “It is intentionally meant to terrify a people who have been subjected to pogroms and hatred for centuries and were the victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust.” Magill said Penn would immediately evaluate and clarify the university’s policies on this matter. A spokesman for Penn didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Magill’s new statement comes after a wave of criticism of her congressional testimony from Penn’s alumni, elected officials and others. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said Wednesday Magill’s initial testimony was “absolutely shameful” and called on Penn’s board of trustees to meet to discuss her future. Magill had already faced calls for her resignation over how Penn has handled growing antisemitism on campus following the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7.
Universities across the U.S. have encountered protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, with students, faculty and staff at schools joining pro-Palestinian rallies. Jewish leaders say rhetoric such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Globalize the intifada” are incitements to violence against Israelis and Jews more broadly.
In response to the growing tension on campus, Magill told politicians Tuesday Penn was increasing security and taking action against anyone who harasses or discriminates against students, faculty or staff.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which advocates for free speech on college campuses, said it would be troubling and counter-productive if Penn modified its policies in a way that abandoned its
commitment to free speech. The organisation said it could lead to silencing of speech from the left or the right.
“Were Penn to retreat from the robust protection of expressive rights, university administrators would make inevitably political decisions about who may speak and what may be said on campus,” the organisation said. “Such a result would undoubtedly compromise the knowledge-generating process free expression enables and for which universities exist.” In one exchange during Tuesday’s congressional hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), asked the presidents of Penn, Harvard and MIT if calls for the genocide of Jews would violate their school policies on free speech, bullying and harassment. She pushed for a direct “yes” or “no” answer.
All three presidents said context mattered in making that determination. “If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes,” Magill said. “It is a context-dependent decision.”
The Wall Street Journal
